Watch: She Almost Died. The $250K Debt Took Their House.
CBS Evening News spotlights Jim and Cindy Powers, who faced crippling medical debt.
All Coverage
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Medical Bills Can Shatter Lives. North Carolina May Act to ‘De-Weaponize’ That Debt.
Medical debt is most prevalent in the Southeast, where states have not expanded Medicaid and have few consumer protection laws. Now, North Carolina is considering two bills that could change that, making the state a leader in protecting patients from high medical bills.
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Medi-Cal Will Cover Doulas at More Than Twice California’s Initial Proposed Rate
Under a budget passed by California lawmakers, the state will pay nonmedical workers who assist in pregnancy and labor up to $1,154 per birth through Medi-Cal, which is up significantly from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s initial offer of $450. Though it’s more than what most other states pay, many doulas say it falls short of the $3,600 they sought.
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Sobering Lessons in Untying the Knot of a Homeless Crisis
The homeless tragedy in Portland, Oregon, now spills well beyond the downtown core, creating a crisis of conscience for a fiercely liberal city that has generously invested in homeless support services.
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Journalists Dig Deep on Medical Debt and the Boundaries of AI in Health Care
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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Watch: Still Paying Off Bills From Twins’ Birth. The Kids Are 10 Now.
Marcus and Allyson Ward explain to “CBS Mornings” how the premature birth of their twins left them with $80,000 in medical debt. A new KHN-NPR investigation reveals they are among 100 million people afflicted financially by the U.S. health system.
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Two Tennessee Abortion Clinics, Awaiting High-Court Ruling, Grapple With Uncertainty
The landmark Roe v. Wade decision could soon be overturned. Two Knoxville-based providers of reproductive health care wonder how — and if — they will continue to serve their patients.
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States Extend Medicaid for New Mothers — Even as They Reject Broader Expansion
Most of the dozen states that haven’t fully expanded eligibility for Medicaid have extended or plan to extend the postpartum coverage window for new mothers. That could mean improved maternal health, but it’s only part of the puzzle when it comes to reducing the number of preventable maternal deaths in the U.S.
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A Proposal to Import Drugs from Other Countries Creates an Unusual Alliance in the Senate
As a Senate committee considered legislation to reauthorize the FDA’s user fee program, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul agreed on a proposed amendment related to importing drugs from Canada, the U.K., and other nations.
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KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Closing In on Covid Vaccines for ‘The Littles’
The wait is nearly over for parents of kids under 5 as a key advisory committee to the FDA recommends authorizing a covid-19 vaccine for the youngest children. Meanwhile, Congress is struggling to fill in the details of its gun control compromise, and, as the Supreme Court prepares to throw the question of abortion legality back to the states, the number of abortions has been rising. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
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Double Shifts, Credit Card Debt, and Family Loans When Twins Were Born Early
One Chicago woman gave birth to twins 10 weeks prematurely, and the children needed extensive care. The medical bills topped out at around $80,000. Desperate, the parents loaded up credit cards, borrowed from relatives, and delayed repaying student loans.
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A Surgery Shatters Retirement Plans and Leads to Bankruptcy
Sherrie Foy had surgeries and medical complications that produced about $850,000 in bills. The Foys ended up declaring bankruptcy. “They took everything we had.”
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A Sexual Assault and Years of Calls From Debt Collectors
Edy Adams had just graduated from college when she was sexually assaulted in 2013. After getting examined at an ER, she received calls from debt collectors for years over a $131 bill. “I was being haunted by this zombie bill.”
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Damaged Credit Delays the Dream of Buying a Home
Joe Pitzo was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018. After surgery, the bills topped $350,000. “This just took a major toll on my credit,” Joe said. “It went down to next to nothing.”
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Nineteen Surgeries Over Five Years. Then They Lost Their House.
Even though one Colorado woman had health insurance, she was swamped with $250,000 in medical debt from surgeries for a twisted intestine. “It was five years of hell,” said her husband.
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Hospital Lawsuits and Garnished Wages on Top of Diabetes
A small infection related to diabetes on one New York man’s foot set off a cascade of medical emergencies and financial struggles that his family is still struggling to cope with.
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Denied Care for a Dangerous Infection Because of Past-Due Bills
One seriously ill Arizona man was denied care because of past-due bills. His only choice was to go to the ER, where he was stuck with thousands of dollars of additional bills he couldn’t pay.
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It’s Hot Outside — And That’s Bad News for Children’s Health
An article in the New England Journal of Medicine takes a sweeping look at how heat — which can be a byproduct of air pollution and climate change — adversely affects people’s health, especially that of kids.
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100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt
The U.S. health system now produces debt on a mass scale, a new investigation shows. Patients face gut-wrenching sacrifices.
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Upended: How Medical Debt Changed Their Lives
People talk about the sacrifices they made when health care forced them into debt.
