medical debt

The Biden administration announced new measures to ease the financial burden of high medical bills. Here's how the measures can help and what's still missing to protect patients.

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion said that as of July that they will no longer include such debt on consumer credit reports.

Medical bills are a leading reason people get stuck in a cycle of debt. The nonprofit Upsolve created an app it calls the “TurboTax of bankruptcy” to help people hit reset and rebuild their financial lives.

Patients are often told to be smart consumers and shop around for health care before they use it. But even when you do so, estimates from insurers, hospitals and doctors can be unreliable.

Iron-deficiency anemia is often remedied with drugstore iron pills. But if that doesn't work, doctors sometimes prescribe iron infusions — and the bill for that can vary by thousands of dollars. Why?

A personal trainer in Montana had a sudden need for lifesaving dialysis after his kidneys failed. But he and his wife never expected the huge bill they received for 14 weeks of care.

When patients can't afford to pay their medical bills, many hospitals offer a payment plan — or free or discounted care. But some try to collect by suing patients and garnishing their wages.

The administration's proposed adjustment to the wage index, a key factor used to set hospitals' Medicare payments, could help rural facilities while hurting those in cities.

More than half of Americans contacted about an overdue bill said it related to medical debt. Some consumer advocates say newly proposed limits on debt collectors don't do enough.

Starting in September, the three main credit agencies will wait 180 days before including medical debt on a credit report, giving consumers time to resolve disputes with insurers.