End Medical Debt
Publications
Discharged Into Debt: A Pandemic Update
Amanda Dunker, Elisabeth Ryden Benjamin
Summary: This brief investigates the medical debt collection practices of New York’s non-profit charitable hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic between March and November 2020. During this time, 55 hospitals sued nearly 4,000 New Yorkers for medical debt. The lawsuits were brought even though these hospitals received millions of dollars—in some cases hundreds of millions—in government funding to offset their losses during the pandemic. Litigation against patients occurred across the state, however the predominately downstate Northwell system was the most litigious. The brief concludes that policymakers have several policy options at their disposal—a moratorium on all medical debt litigation and the Patient Medical Debt Protection Act—that would insulate patients from these aggressive medical debt collection practices.
Issues: Access to Health Care
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