Opinion: Medical debt is crushing many Americans. States can help fix that
States should move forward to strengthen rules that protect their citizens from medical debt, one of the most common types of consumer debt.
The Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act are making health insurance less affordable and less accessible, and will almost certainly increase the number of Americans struggling with medical debt. State policymakers can and should act now to protect consumers from crushing medical debt and aggressive debt collection practices.
Medical debt accrues when a patient must pay for care that isn’t covered by insurance or is only partly covered. It is one of the most common types of found that 20 percent of Americans have at least one medical debt collection item in their credit reports, and more than half of collection items on credit reports are for medical debts.
