Pledging to end the “immoral and unconscionable” practice of collecting debt from families who have endured an illness or hospital stay, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Saturday unveiled his plan to wipe out all medical debt in the United States.
The Vermont Independent senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate announced his proposal to eliminate the $81 billion in medical debt carried by American households days after asking his supporters on social media about the money they owe debt collectors due to medical emergencies or illnesses they experienced in the past.
The Sanders campaign heard back from more than 50,000 people who shared stories of the debts that have proven impossible to pay off, sending their credit scores plummeting and affecting families’ daily lives.
$35,000 for addiction treatment. Out of pocket. It's the best money I ever spent, but quality addiction treatment should not be limited by class. Addiction is treatable. Everyone deserves the opportunity.
— This ain't no Disco (@artisteboy) September 15, 2019
$20,000 after my baby Anthony died at Tarzana Medical Center which was 15 minutes farther than the hospital where he was born where we were insured (Kaiser). He choked on his formula and was unconscious then died.
— Amy Sterling Casil (@ASterling) September 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/Laura_Lape/status/1173029046449594368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1173029046449594368&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2F2019%2F09%2F21%2Fsanders-unveils-plan-wipe-out-all-medical-debt-us-declaring-very-concept-should-not
https://twitter.com/skau61/status/1173711443515998208
“The very concept of medical debt should not exist,” Sanders said Saturday. “In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, one illness or disease should not ruin a family’s financial life and future.”
79 million Americans are burdened by medical debt for the “crime” of getting sick. We’re going to eliminate all past-due medical debt. #EliminateMedicalDebt https://t.co/J8vjSLbTQ0
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 21, 2019
Medical bills contribute to 66 percent of bankruptcies in the U.S., and one in six Americans have at least one past due medical bill on their credit reports. Nearly 80 million Americans report struggling to pay their medical expenses.
Under Sanders’s plan, in addition to eliminating all existing medical debt, the senator would establish a public registry to replace the three major credit report agencies, including Equifax, whose security breach left the personal and financial information of 140 million people exposed in 2017. The registry would “remove the profit motive from assessing the creditworthiness of American consumers.”
The senator would also bar medical debts from being included on credit reports and end the practice of credit checks for housing, job applications, and other non-lending practices.
“It is immoral and unconscionable that families across the country are finding themselves nearly broke or bankrupt because of crippling medical debt while the healthcare industry made more than $100 billion in profits last year,” Sanders said in a statement. “My administration will take on the greed of the healthcare industry.”
The plan won praise on social media from progressives, journalists, and people who shared how they would benefit from the elimination of medical debt.
There are lots of kinds of debt that are immoral, exploitative and deeply unjust (and several presidential candidates are addressing that aggressively) but I could not agree more wholeheartedly with this: Medical debt should absolutely not exist. https://t.co/7YB2iwbFJq
— Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) September 21, 2019
The very bottom of @BernieSanders medical debt plan feels very huge.
He wants to replace companies like Equifax, Transunion and Experian with a public credit registry through CFPB.https://t.co/SKakmdPc3n
— Tara Golshan (@taragolshan) September 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/xeni/status/1175388804204511233
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