State lawmakers find America's medical debt problem 'can no longer be ignored'

Personal medical debt has reached startling heights — and state lawmakers are taking notice.

In the absence of federal consensus and in anticipation of congressional inaction, state legislators have enacted a variety of consumer protections to mitigate or forestall medical debt. Several more bills are being debated in the coming weeks, expected to be signed later this year and taken up when sessions reconvene in 2024.

The actions — in more than a dozen states — represent a determined, if patchwork, effort to help the roughly 100 million Americans who deal with medical debt, late notices, threatening voicemails and credit score declines. And the bills underscore the difficulty state lawmakers have helping their distressed constituents contend with the ever-increasing costs of health care.

Total medical debt in the U.S. may be as high as $195 billion, according to KFF, a health policy research organization. Black and Hispanic people as well as young adults are most likely to have medical debt as are people in states that have not expanded Medicaid.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/07/state-lawmakers-america-medical-debt-00114330

We have a healthcare cost crisis.