medical debt

After emergency gallbladder surgery, a Tennessee woman said she spent months without a permanent mailing address and never got a bill from the hospital. She ended up in court a few years later.

In a new report, the organization urges stronger federal and state action to hold hospitals to account for a medical debt crisis that now burdens more than 100 million Americans.

Reckless behavior with money can be a warning sign of cognitive decline — and the condition can put people at risk of financial ruin. There are few institutional safeguards in place.

More than half of the counties in the nation's so-called Diabetes Belt - which includes parts of north Florida - also have high rates of medical debt among their residents, an NPR analysis found.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reports an estimated 100 million Americans have amassed nearly $200 billion in collective medical debt — almost the size of Greece’s economy.

More than 50 consumer and patient groups want the Biden Administration to aggressively protect Americans from medical bills and debt collectors. The effort follows a KHN/NPR investigation.

White House officials said the decline in debt could reduce fears about medical bills that can prevent people from making needed doctor appointments and filling pharmaceutical prescriptions.

Instead of health insurance, the Rev. Jeff King had signed up for an alternative that left members of the plan to share the costs of health care. That meant lower premiums, but a huge hospital bill.

An examination of billing policies and practices at more than 500 hospitals across the country shows widespread reliance on aggressive collection tactics.

A Venice health system charged a woman for a shoulder replacement she didn't need and hadn't received. She didn't receive the care, but she did receive the bill — and some medical records of a stranger.