A recent Urban Institute report highlighting medical debt fails to examine how inadequate health coverage drives this debt, writes Molly Smith, AHA’s group vice president of public policy. “As the extent of medical debt shows, both the government and the private market is failing too many patients, leaving too many either uninsured or with subpar plans that expose too many people to bills they cannot afford to pay,” she writes. “While hospital financial assistance is crucial to helping many individuals of limited means access care, it is no substitute for a solution that gets to the root causes of medical debt.” READ MORE 
 

Related News Articles

Headline
A KFF survey published today found that people view prior authorization as the biggest challenge beyond costs when navigating the health care system. In terms…
Headline
A KFF analysis released Jan. 28 found that Medicare Advantage insurers made nearly 53 million prior authorization determinations in 2024, an increase…
Headline
The AHA Jan. 26 released a white paper on addressing challenges in implementing an advanced explanation of benefits, which requires coordination among multiple…
Headline
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and Ways and Means Committee Jan. 22 hosted hearings on health care affordability that included…
Perspective
Public
Every year tens of millions of Americans dig deep into their pocketbooks to pay for health insurance plans that will cover both preventive and necessary care…
Headline
The White House released a health care plan Jan. 15 addressing drug prices, health insurance premiums and price transparency efforts. The plan includes…