Category: Diagnosis: Debt

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.

New York Joins Local Governments in Erasing Billions in Medical Debt

New York City is the latest jurisdiction to buy and forgive a backlog of unpaid medical bills for its residents. Local governments across the country, including in the Chicago area, are doing the same to reduce debt burdens for lower-income residents.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.