Across North Carolina, Medical Debt Exacts a Heavy Toll
The state has among the highest levels of medical debt in the country, data shows.
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How North Carolina Made Its Hospitals Do Something About Medical Debt
State officials threatened to withhold public money from hospitals, pioneering a strategy that could become a national model.
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These Alabama Workers Were Swamped by Medical Debt. Then Their Employer Stepped In.
A decades-old manufacturing company opened a clinic and made primary care and prescriptions free for employees and their families.
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Biden Administration Advances Plan To Remove Medical Debt From Credit Scores
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed federal regulations that would prevent unpaid medical bills from being counted on consumers’ credit reports.
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Why One New York Health System Stopped Suing Its Patients
Most U.S. hospitals aggressively pursue patients for unpaid bills. One New York hospital system decided to work with them instead.
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Their First Baby Came With Medical Debt. These Illinois Parents Won’t Have Another.
Millions of new parents in the U.S. are swamped by medical debt during and after pregnancy, forcing many to cut back on food, clothing, and other essentials.
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With Medical Debt Burdening Millions, a Financial Regulator Steps In to Help
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created after the Great Recession of 2007-09, has increasingly started policing the health care system.
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In This Oklahoma Town, Most Everyone Knows Someone Who’s Been Sued by the Hospital
Hospitals nationwide face growing scrutiny over how they secure payment from patients, but at one community hospital, the debt collection machine has been quietly humming along for decades.
By Mitchell Black and Noam N. Levey -
Listen: What Our 2-Year-Long Investigation Into Medical Debt Reveals
An award-winning project by KFF Health News and NPR found that at least 100 million people in the United States are saddled with medical bills they cannot pay — and exposed a health care system that systematically pushes people into debt.
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Watch: She Had a Home and a Good-Paying Job. Then Illness and Debt Upended It All.
A chronic health diagnosis and medical debt reordered Sharon Woodward's life.
By Noam N. Levey and Hannah Norman -
Medical Debt Is Disappearing From Americans’ Credit Reports, Lifting Scores
As credit rating agencies have removed small unpaid medical bills from consumer credit, scores have gone up, a new study finds.
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Biden Administration to Ban Medical Debt From Americans’ Credit Scores
The White House said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will develop new regulations that would prevent unpaid medical bills from being counted on credit reports.
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A Father Dreamed of a Home for His Family. Medical Debt Nearly Pushed Them Onto the Streets.
As cities like Denver struggle to make homes more affordable, medical debt keeps housing out of reach for millions of Americans.
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North Carolina Hospitals Have Sued Thousands of Their Patients, a New Report Finds
An analysis of court records by the state treasurer and Duke researchers finds Atrium Health, originally a public hospital system, accounted for almost a third of the legal actions against North Carolina patients over roughly five years.
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What One Lending Company’s Hospital Contracts Reveal About Financing Patient Debt
Within two years of North Carolina’s public university system going into business with AccessOne to finance patients’ payment plans, nearly half of its patients were in loans that charged interest. As federal scrutiny increases on lenders, KFF Health News is sharing that contract and others obtained through public records requests.
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Perspective
Medical Debt Is Making Americans Angry. Doctors and Hospitals Ignore This at Their Peril.
Doctors and hospitals hold an exalted position in American life, retaining public confidence even as other institutions such as government, law enforcement, and the media are losing people’s trust. But with health care debt out of hand, medical providers risk their good standing.
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‘We’re Not Doing That’: Why a Black Couple Wouldn’t Crowdfund to Pay Off Medical Debts
Kristie Fields, a cancer patient in Virginia, was urged to go public to seek financial help. She worried about feeding hurtful stereotypes.
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International Rights Group Calls Out US for Allowing Hospitals to Push Millions Into Debt
In a new report, Human Rights Watch urges stronger federal and state action to hold hospitals to account for a medical debt crisis that now burdens more than 100 million Americans.
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Biden Administration Issues New Warning About Medical Credit Cards
Americans paid an estimated $1 billion in deferred interest on medical debt in just three years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reports. The agency warns against medical credit cards, which are often pitched right in doctors’ offices.
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Listen to ‘Tradeoffs’: Medical Debt Delivers ‘A Shocking Amount of Misery’
Medical debt in America pushes families to the edge. Ariane Buck and his wife, Samantha, were denied care at their doctor's office because of an unpaid bill of less than $100. A trip to the emergency room added thousands of dollars to their health care debt, which topped $50,000 by the time they filed for bankruptcy.
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