2/28/2023 0 Comments Haves and have nota![]() ![]() Nearly 20% with medical debt fear they'll never pay it off Her credit report shows five pages of notifications from collection agencies representing doctor's offices, hospitals and labs. That left her on the hook for bill after bill after bill. Wingard says she tried to buy private insurance on the marketplace several years ago, but her monthly premium would have been more than $200, which she can't afford. She has worked as an after-school teacher and tutor, a COVID-19 contact tracer and a driver for a ride-hailing service, but none of those jobs has come with health insurance benefits. It's not just for cancer care, but also bills for unrelated health problems that developed in the following years. She estimates her total medical debt today is over $50,000. North Carolina has not expanded Medicaid, so despite her low income, Wingard, who is 58 and does not have young children, doesn't qualify for the public insurance program in her state. And a study published in 2021 found medical debt was highest within low-income communities and in Southern states that had not expanded Medicaid. A nationwide KFF poll found 56% of Black adults and 50% of Hispanic adults say they have current debt due to medical or dental bills, compared with 37% of non-Hispanic white adults. People burdened most by medical debt tend to be Black or Hispanic, low-income, and in the South. "They're not maybe doing as good of a thing as their press releases would like you to believe." Medical debt is highest in Southern states that didn't expand Medicaid "Although the credit reporting companies have trumpeted this as a big change, the fact is they're just removing the small stuff," says Ryan Sandler, a co-author of the report and senior economist with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. ![]() But a federal report released this summer suggests those may not be the people who need it most. The changes, which go into full effect in 2023, are expected to benefit an estimated 16 million Americans. This doesn't wipe out what people owe, but the idea is to remove the black mark of collections from their credit so they can more easily reach milestones like qualifying for a car or home loan. Under the new policies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion will remove from credit reports any paid debts or individual bills that were less than $500 and had gone to collections, even if unpaid. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |