The American Medical Debt Crisis

The Takeaway

WNYC and PRX

Politics, Wnyc, Daily News, Radio, Takeaway, National, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 716 Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2023

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In March, the actions of a local church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina received national attention for all the right reasons. The congregation at Trinity Moravian Church partnered with an organization called R-I-P Medical Debt to cancel 3,000 local residents’ medical debt, to the tune of $3.3 million dollars. They bought that debt for just a little over $15,000 dollars. Rev. John Jackman, the pastor of Trinity Moravian Church held a symbolic “debt burning” ceremony to mark the occasion, with confetti and hymns. In 2016, John Oliver, a comedian and host of the HBO series Last Week Tonight, purchased $15 million dollars in medical debt from 9,000 people, that he bought for “less than half a cent on a dollar.” And some state officials, like Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut, are currently proposing using federal pandemic aid to cancel billions of dollars in medical debt. Yes, these are happy stories of people working together to help their community members, neighbors, and even strangers. But this is also a crisis. Millions of Americans carry the burden of outstanding medical debt – An investigation in 2022 by Kaiser Health News and the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that 100 million people across the nation have some type of health care debt. Kaiser estimated that in 2019 – the total medical debt in the country was around $195 BILLION dollars. For more on this we spoke with Emily Stewart, Executive Director at Community Catalyst, a national nonprofit focused on health justice.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Lulu here, whether we are romping through science, music, politics, technology, or feelings,
0:05.9	we seek to leave you seeing the world anew.
0:09.0	Radio Lab adventures right on the edge of what we think we know, wherever you get podcasts.
0:26.2	Welcome to The Takeaway. I'm Melissa Harris Perry.
0:34.1	There are a lot of things I love about Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
0:39.1	That's the mid-sized city where I live, work, and raise my family. We've got beautiful parks, a thriving arts community, and we're the home of crispy cream donuts. That sweet
0:47.1	treat beloved unreservedly by basketball legend Charles Barkley. When you ride by a kibbs game,
0:53.7	you see that hot donutnut, you gotta stop.
0:57.0	But I was especially proud of our town in March, when the actions of a local church
1:03.0	got national attention for all the right reasons.
1:06.0	The congregation at Trinity Moravian Church partnered with an organization called RIP medical
1:12.5	debt to cancel 3,000 local residents medical debt to the tune of $3.3 million.
1:21.1	And the congregation bought that debt for just over 15,000.
1:27.1	Reverend John Jackman, the pastor of Trinity Moravian Church,
1:30.8	held a symbolic debt-burning ceremony
1:33.5	to mark the occasion with confetti and hymns.
1:37.5	The fact that we could buy that much for debt
1:40.5	for $15,000 is ridiculous and silly and crazy that it tells us how broken the system is.
1:48.2	Now, back in 2016, John Oliver, the comedian and host of the HBO series last week tonight,
1:55.4	purchased $15 million in medical debt from 9,000 people, and he bought it for less than half a cent on a dollar.
2:02.8	So are you ready to do this?
2:06.1	You are about to watch me give away $15 million.
	...

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