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Medical debt in America pushes families to the edge. Ariane Buck and his wife, Samantha, were denied care at their doctor's office because of an unpaid bill of less than $100. A trip to the emergency room added thousands of dollars to their health care debt, which topped $50,000 by the time they filed for bankruptcy.
Consumer and patient advocates push for new federal rules to protect Americans from debt collectors and force hospitals to make financial assistance more accessible.
An examination of billing policies and practices at more than 500 hospitals across the country shows widespread reliance on aggressive collection tactics.
Monica Reed was the first in her family to own a home and has lived "a frugal kind of life." Cancer treatment left her with almost $10,000 in debt, pushing her to the edge financially.
In 2020, diabetes and covid-19 landed David Zipprich in the hospital three times. Even with insurance, he was inundated with bills, debt notices, and calls from collectors.
Coal mining ended in Germany鈥檚 Saarland a decade ago, but the transition away from coal has been smoother than in West Virginia, which has more medical debt than any state in America.
Hospitals strike deals with financing companies, generating profits for lenders, and more debt for patients.
Despite the end of Jim Crow segregation, its legacy lives on in medical debt that disproportionately burdens Black communities.
Some hospitals notch big profits while patients are pushed into debt by skyrocketing medical prices and high deductibles, a KHN analysis finds.
Debt lawsuits 鈥 long a byproduct of America鈥檚 medical debt crisis 鈥 can ensnare not only patients but also those who help sick and older people be admitted to nursing homes, a KHN-NPR investigation finds.
Medical breakthroughs mean cancer is less likely to kill, but survival can come at an extraordinary cost as patients drain savings, declare bankruptcy, or lose their homes, a KHN-NPR investigation finds.
Sherrie Foy had surgeries and medical complications that produced about $850,000 in bills. The Foys ended up declaring bankruptcy. 鈥淭hey took everything we had.鈥
Edy Adams had just graduated from college when she was sexually assaulted in 2013. After getting examined at an ER, she received calls from debt collectors for years over a $131 bill. 鈥淚 was being haunted by this zombie bill.鈥
One Chicago woman gave birth to twins 10 weeks prematurely, and the children needed extensive care. The medical bills topped out at around $80,000. Desperate, the parents loaded up credit cards, borrowed from relatives, and delayed repaying student loans.
Even though one Colorado woman had health insurance, she was swamped with $250,000 in medical debt from surgeries for a twisted intestine. 鈥淚t was five years of hell,鈥 said her husband.
A small infection related to diabetes on one New York man鈥檚 foot set off a cascade of medical emergencies and financial struggles that his family is still struggling to cope with.
One seriously ill Arizona man was denied care because of past-due bills. His only choice was to go to the ER, where he was stuck with thousands of dollars of additional bills he couldn鈥檛 pay.
The U.S. health system now produces debt on a mass scale, a new investigation shows. Patients face gut-wrenching sacrifices.
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