Potentially More Than 1 Million People In Colorado Have Medical Debt
The Colorado Sun and KFF Health News take a closer look at the scale, impact, and causes of medical debt in Colorado. In other news from around the country, worker heat protections in California, polychlorinated biphenyls at North Carolina State University, and more.
Colorado Sun:
How Medical Debt Works In Colorado, Explained In Seven Charts
Picture a room with 100 people in it — just regular adults, people with jobs and monthly bills and credit scores. In America, if that room contains a sufficient cross section of the population, as many as 40 people will have debt stemming from medical or dental care, according to one national survey. Two out of every five. Now zoom in and apply that to Colorado, which national data suggests is fairly average when it comes to the number of people with medical debt. That’s potentially well over 1 million adults in the state with outstanding health care bills or medical debt. (Ingold, 4/3)
KFF Health News:
Medical Debt Affects Much Of America, But Colorado Immigrants Are Hit Especially Hard
In February, Norma Brambila’s teenage daughter wrote her a letter she now carries in her purse. It is a drawing of a rose, and a note encouraging Brambila to “keep fighting” her sickness and reminding her she’d someday join her family in heaven. Brambila, a community organizer who emigrated from Mexico a quarter-century ago, had only a sinus infection, but her children had never seen her so ill. “I was in bed for four days,” she said. Lacking insurance, Brambila had avoided seeking care, hoping garlic and cinnamon would do the trick. (Bichell and Toomer, 4/3)
In other health developments across the nation —
KFF Health News:
Heat Protections For California Workers Are In Limbo After Newsom Abandons Rules
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has abandoned proposed protections for millions of California workers toiling in sweltering warehouses, steamy kitchens, and other dangerously hot workplaces — upending a regulatory process that had been years in the making. The administration’s eleventh-hour move, which it attributed to the cost of the new regulations, angered workplace safety advocates and state regulators, setting off a mad scramble to implement emergency rules before summer. (Hart and Young, 4/3)
Politico:
Lawmakers Raise Hospital Charity Care Concerns In Murphy Budget
State lawmakers on Tuesday pushed Department of Health officials for more details on how hospitals might be affected by Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget proposal to reroute charity care funds to a new Medicaid program. Murphy’s FY25 budget proposes a total of $137.2 million for charity care funding for hospitals, a reduction of $204.8 million compared to the FY24 budget. The state's charity care program reimburses hospitals for care provided to uninsured and underinsured patients. (Han, 4/2)
USA Today:
NC State's Poe Hall, PCBs, Linked To Over 150 Cancer Cases In Students
North Carolina State University alumni who attended classes at Poe Hall may have been exposed to a possible carcinogen as reported cancer cases among the former students have risen to 150, according to reports. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were detected in building materials in October or November 2023 prompting Chancellor Randy Woodson and Vice Chancellor Warwick Arden to close Poe Hall and "bring in professionals to conduct more comprehensive testing," Arden said during a 39-minute webinar last week. (Limehouse, 4/2)
The Star Tribune:
Nurses Want Hennepin County To Take Back Control Of HCMC
Nearly four months after the Hennepin County Board implemented more financial oversight of the organization that runs HCMC, nurses say working conditions have not changed and the hospital needs new leadership. They want commissioners to take back control of the safety-net hospital from Hennepin Healthcare System, an organization created by the County Board over a decade ago to run the county's health care facilities. (Magan, 4/2)
