Scary Stories of Medical Debt

Medical debt haunts millions, lurking in credit reports and reducing access to essentials like housing and business loans.

Could medical debt be banished from credit reports, freeing Americans from its lasting shadow? These phantasms are already looming in places like Cleveland and New Orleans, where communities have been exorcising this financial burden from their citizens’ lives with funds from the American Rescue Plan. The cumulative impact is both substantial and immediate, as those freed from debt emerge with improved financial mobility, ready to buy homes or start businesses rather than continuing to live with the debt monster under the bed.

Just as a ghostly apparition fades when its tether to the earthly realm is severed, so too would medical debt’s ability to haunt credit scores vanish with regulatory reforms.

Read more on the horrors of medical debt from 4sight Health, plus some potential apparitions depending on the future card, in this Halloween roundup.

Seeing the Possibilities in Harris’ Plans for Healthcare

David W. Johnson and Julie Murchinson discuss the six healthcare planks in Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris’ economic plan and what they mean for the industry on the 4sight Health Roundup podcast, moderated by David Burda. Listen.

The Medical Debt Wealth Transfer

Are crowdfunding and charitable donations good mechanisms to address the medical debt crisis? David W. Johnson and Julie Murchinson give their opinions on the 4sight Health Roundup podcast, moderated by David Burda. Listen.

Bankrupting Patients. Not a Good Business Strategy.

Unaffordable medical debt is a crisis for more than just consumers. It’s also a crisis for providers like hospitals, health systems and physician practices. More.

The Medical Debt Pyramid Scheme

Nonprofit orgs paying off medical debt is a nice thing for patients, but there’s no incentive for hospitals and doctors to make prices more affordable. More.

About the Author

David Burda

David Burda began covering healthcare in 1983 and hasn’t stopped since. Dave writes this monthly column “Burda on Healthcare,” contributes weekly blog posts, manages our weekly newsletter 4sight Friday, and hosts our weekly Roundup podcast. Dave believes that healthcare is a business like any other business, and customers — patients — are king. If you do what’s right for patients, good business results will follow.

Dave’s personnel experiences with the healthcare system both as a patient and family caregiver have shaped his point of view. It’s also been shaped by covering the industry for 40 years as a reporter and editor. He worked at Modern Healthcare for 25 years, the last 11 as editor.

Prior to Modern Healthcare, he did stints at the American Medical Record Association (now AHIMA) and the American Hospital Association. After Modern Healthcare, he wrote a monthly column for Twin Cities Business explaining healthcare trends to a business audience, and he developed and executed content marketing plans for leading healthcare corporations as the editorial director for healthcare strategies at MSP Communications.

When he’s not reading and writing about healthcare, Dave spends his time riding the trails of DuPage County, IL, on his bike, tending his vegetable garden and daydreaming about being a lobster fisherman in Maine. He lives in Wheaton, IL, with his lovely wife of 40 years and his three children, none of whom want to be journalists or lobster fishermen.

October 29, 2024