🧵 More than 100 million Americans, including 41% of adults, are plagued by a health care system that drives people into debt to pay for their care.
An investigation by @KHNews and NPR shows the problem is far more pervasive than previously reported.
npr.org/sections/healt…
An investigation by @KHNews and NPR shows the problem is far more pervasive than previously reported.
npr.org/sections/healt…
To calculate the true extent and burden of this debt, the KHN-NPR investigation draws on a nationwide poll conducted by KFF for this project. The survey aimed to capture not just bills patients couldn't pay, but other borrowing used to pay for health care as well. #DiagnosisDebt 
A KFF poll found that more than half of U.S. adults reported going into debt because of medical or dental bills in the past five years. A quarter of those with health care debt owe more than $5,000. One in 5 who have any amount of debt believe they will never pay it off.
The burden is forcing families to cut spending on food and other essentials. Millions are being driven from their homes or into bankruptcy, the poll found.
Allyson Ward and her husband loaded up credit cards, borrowed from relatives, and delayed repaying student loans after the premature birth of their twins left them with $80,000 in debt. Ward, a nurse practitioner, took on extra nursing shifts, working days and nights.
For many Americans, debt from medical or dental care may be relatively low. About a third owe less than $1,000, the KFF poll found. Even small debts can take a toll.
Edy Adams, a 31-year-old medical student, was pursued by debt collectors for years for a medical exam she received after she was sexually assaulted.
Police never found the perpetrator. Two years later, she started receiving calls from debt collectors, saying she owed $130.68.
Police never found the perpetrator. Two years later, she started receiving calls from debt collectors, saying she owed $130.68.
Sherrie Foy, 63, and her husband, Michael, saw their carefully planned retirement upended when Foy's colon had to be removed.
The couple diligently saved money. And they had retiree health insurance through Con Edison. Sherrie's surgery was complicated, she spent months in the hospital, and her medical bills exceeded the $1 million cap on their health plan.
When Foy couldn't pay more than $775,000 she owed the University of Virginia Health System, the medical center sued, a once common practice that the university said it has reined in. The couple declared bankruptcy.
America's debt crisis is driven by a simple reality: Half of U.S. adults don't have the cash to cover an unexpected $500 health care bill. As a result, many simply don't pay. The flood of unpaid bills has made medical debt the most common form of debt on consumer credit records.
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