Patient and consumer advocates look to Kamala Harris to accelerate federal efforts to help people struggling with medical debt if she prevails next month’s presidential elections.
And they see the vice president and the Democratic nominee as the best hope for preserving Americans’ access to health insurance. Comprehensive coverage that limits patients’ out-of-pocket costs offers the best defense against taking on debt, experts say.
The Biden administration has expanded financial protections for patients, including a landmark proposal from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports.
In 2022, President Joe Biden also signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which limits how much Medicare enrollees have to pay out-of-pocket for prescription drugs, including a $35 per month cap on insulin. And in statehouses across the country, Democrats and Republicans have quietly worked together to enact laws to rein in debt collectors.
But advocates say the federal government could do more to address a problem that burdens 100 million Americans, forcing many to take on extra work, give up their homes and cut back on food and other essentials.
“Biden and Harris have done more to address the medical debt crisis in this country than any other administration,” said Mona Shah, senior director of policy and strategy at Community Catalyst, a nonprofit that has led national efforts to strengthen protection against medical debt. “But more needs to be done and this should be a top priority for the next Congress and administration.”
At the same time, patient advocates fear that if former President Donald Trump wins a second term, he will weaken insurance protections by allowing states to cut their Medicaid programs or by rolling back federal aid to help Americans get health insurance. screws. That would put millions of people at greater risk of ending up in debt if they get sick.
During his first term, Trump and Republicans in Congress attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, a move that independent analysts concluded would have stripped health care coverage from millions of Americans and increased costs for people with pre-existing medical conditions, such as diabetes and cancer, would have increased. .
Trump and his Republican allies continue to attack the ACA, and the former president has said he wants to roll back the Inflation Reduction Act, which also includes aid to help low- and middle-income Americans get health insurance.
“People will face a wave of medical debt from paying premiums and prescription drug prices,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, a consumer group that supports federal health care. “Patients and the public should be concerned.”
The Trump campaign did not respond to questions about his health care agenda. And the former president typically doesn’t discuss health care or medical debt during the campaign, although he said during last month’s debate that he had “concepts of a plan” to improve the ACA. Trump did not provide any details.
Harris has repeatedly pledged to protect the ACA and extend the expanded subsidies for monthly insurance premiums created by the Inflation Reduction Act. This support expires next year.
The vice president has also expressed support for more government spending to buy and pay off old medical debt for patients. In recent years, a number of states and cities have purchased medical debt on behalf of their residents.
These efforts have alleviated the debt of hundreds of thousands of people, although many patient and consumer advocates say paying off old debt is a short-term solution at best because patients will continue to rack up bills they can’t pay without more substantive action .
“It’s a boat with a hole in it,” said Katie Berge, lobbyist for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The patient group was among more than 50 organizations that sent letters to the Biden administration last year urging federal agencies to take more aggressive action to protect Americans from medical debt.
“Medical debt is no longer a niche problem,” says Kirsten Sloan, who works on federal policy for the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network. “It is key to the economic well-being of millions of Americans.”
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is developing regulations that would exclude medical bills from consumer credit reports, which would improve credit scores and make it easier for millions of Americans to rent an apartment, get a job or get a car loan.
Harris, who has called medical debt “critical to the financial health and well-being of millions of Americans,” enthusiastically supported the proposed rule. “No one should be denied access to economic opportunities simply because of a medical emergency,” she said in June.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has said his own family struggled with medical debt when he was young, signed a state law in June that cracks down on debt collection.
CFPB officials said the rulemaking would be finalized early next year. Trump has not indicated whether he will continue medical debt protection. During its first term, the CFPB did little to address medical debt, and Republicans in Congress have long criticized the regulator.
If Harris prevails, many consumer groups want the CFPB to take even further action, including increased oversight of medical credit cards and other financial products that hospitals and other medical providers have begun pushing on patients. These loans ensure that people receive interest payments on top of their medical debts.
“We’re seeing a variety of new medical financial products,” said April Kuehnhoff, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “These may raise new consumer protection concerns, and it is critical for the CFPB and other regulators to monitor these companies.”
Some advocates want other federal agencies to be involved as well.
This includes the massive Department of Health and Human Services, which controls hundreds of billions of dollars through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. That money gives the federal government enormous influence over hospitals and other medical providers.
So far, the Biden administration has not used that leverage to address medical debt.
But in a possible preview of future actions, state leaders in North Carolina recently received federal approval for a medical debt initiative that will push hospitals to take steps to relieve patients’ debt in exchange for government aid. Harris praised the initiative.
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