By Maanasa Kona, Sabrina Corlette, and Zeynep Celik
Medical and dental bills that patients cannot afford to pay have left millions of Americans financially vulnerable and facing more than $220 billion in medical debt. While the uninsured are most at risk, insured patients increasingly find they are unable to afford their cost-sharing responsibilities, with recent federal policy changes expected to exacerbate this problem in 2026. At the same time, federal momentum to protect people from crippling medical debt has stalled, leaving states on the front lines of protections against medical debt.
In a new piece for the Commonwealth Fund, Maanasa Kona, Sabrina Corlette, and Zeynep Celik examine how the federal government’s shift in approach has transferred responsibility to states, and how state policymakers are responding with a growing set of strategies to protect patients from long-term financial harm.
Read the full blog post here.
