The President has signed a budget reconciliation bill that will lead to 10 million people losing health insurance. At the same time, recent studies estimate that as many as 100 million Americans owe about $220 billion in medical debt. The new law, combined with expiring enhanced premium tax credits (PTCs) and other recent federal policy changes, will exacerbate this medical debt crisis. However, states have tools to protect patients from medical debt while mitigating the burdens on local providers.
In a new piece for the Commonwealth Fund, Maanasa Kona, Sabrina Corlette, and Billy Dering discuss the impact of recent federal policy changes as well as state-level strategies to curb rising medical debt, including strengthening financial assistance standards and protecting patients from harmful debt collection practices. They look at how creating a centralized eligibility screening process can help patients while easing administrative burdens for hospitals.
Read the full blog post here.
