Americans Owe $140 Billion to Collections Agencies Because of Medical Debt
A newly published study finds that the amount of medical debt owed by Americans is even larger than previously thought. It’s just further proof of the moral abomination that is for-profit health care.
A new report from the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that medical debt in the United States is now at an astonishing $140 billion. (Olga Kononenko / Unsplash)
As a Canadian, I sometimes find it difficult to wrap my head around phrases like “medical debt.”
My country’s health care system is not without its share of problems, but one of the lasting achievements of Medicare has been to sever the whole idea of going to the doctor from anything involving your wallet. When I have had to spend money due to illness (usually on prescription drugs, which are still a significant gap in public insurance coverage), it’s always felt weird and unnatural — kind of like being charged for borrowing a book from the library.
If you’ve even had a taste of a public health care system, the very idea of commodified, for-profit health care doesn’t compute, and concepts like “medical debt” seem dystopian beyond belief.
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