Ill-Gotten Gains: The Inequity of Rising Medical Debt and How States Can Respond

Between 2009 and 2020, unpaid medical bills became the largest source of debt that Americans owe collections agencies. Medical debt is an increasing problem for consumers and disproportionately impacts Black and Hispanic families, uninsured households and households with little or no wealth. In addition, hospitals are increasingly taking consumers to court and garnishing wages over unpaid medical bills, though many of these institutions are nonprofits required to provide care at a reduced or no cost. The confluence of rising healthcare costs, increased cost-sharing and lax charity care provisions works to saddle consumers with more and more medical debt.

In this webinar, we were joined by advocates from three states that have recently enacted medical debt protections. The speakers discussed the potential impact of these new laws, as well as their experiences advocating for such measures. In discussing the strategies they used to pass medical debt protections, the speakers shared their knowledge with advocates and policymakers looking to enact similar medical debt protections for their own states.

Date and Time

April 28, 2022
3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EST 

Speakers

• Maanasa Kona, J.D., LL.M., Assistant Research Professor and faculty member at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms (CHIR). (Moderator)
• Nicolas Cordova, JD, Healthcare Attorney for New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty
• Marceline White, MPIA, Executive Director for the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition
• Julia Char Gilbert, Connelly Policy Advocate at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy

Resources

Hub Products:  

• Hub Webinar: Disrupting the Medical Debt Collection Highway
• Infographic: Medical Debt Highway
• Infographic: Consumer Harm

Other Resources:  

• Know Your Rights with Medical Bills, NM Together for Healthcare (Retrieved April 8, 2022).
• White, Mareline, and Robyn Dorsey, No Exit: How Maryland’s Debt Collection Practices Deepen Poverty & Widen the Racial Wealth Gap, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition (June 2018). 
• Neswood, Allison, Case Study: Experiences Battling Debt Drive Reform of Hospital Financial Assistance Laws in Colorado, Community Catalyst and Colorado Center on Law and Policy (December 2021). 
• Perry, Andre M., et al., The Racial Implications of Medical Debt: How Moving Toward Universal Health Care and Other Reforms Can Address Them, Brookings (Oct. 5, 2021).  
• Ge Bai, et al., “Analysis Suggests Government and Nonprofit Hospitals’ Charity Care is Not Aligned with Their Facorable Tax Treatment,” Health Affairs, Vol. 40, No. 4 (April 2021). 
• Analysis of the Impact of Hospital Financial Assistance Policy Options on Uncompensated Care and Costs to Payers, Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission (Jan. 26, 2021). 
• Bennett, Neil, et al., Who Had Medical Debt in the United States? U.S. Census Bureau (April 7, 2021).
• Atkeson, Allie and Elinor Higgins, How States Can Hold Hospitals Accountable for Their Community Benefit Expenditures, National Academy for State Health Policy (March 15, 2021). 
• Bopp Stark, Andrea, An Ounce of Prevention: A Review of Hospital Financial Assistance Policies in the States, National Consumer Law Center (January 2020).