New NCL analysis of medical debt policies highlights need for reform
By Sam Sears, Health Policy Associate, National Consumers League
The National Consumers League (NCL) recently published a new issue brief focused on hospital’s medical debt practices. With over 100 million Americans grappling with medical debt, and 1 in 7 of them reporting to KFF Health News that they’ve been denied care, it is prudent to evaluate these anti-consumer hospital policies.
The analysis, which was completed by Magnolia Market Access, found that 340B hospitals are significantly more aggressive with their medical debt policies – 340B hospitals are twice as likely to deny or defer chare and also significantly more likely to take legal action against a patient. Additionally, our analysis found that for-profit hospitals are significantly less aggressive in their practices against patients with medical debt than nonprofit or government hospitals, and that screening for financial assistance does not resolve medical debt issues.
Medical debt is unpredictable and can have long lasting consequences. Nearly 50% of Americans struggling with medical debt have it reported to their credit report, and over 40 million people owe nearly $88 billion that has been sent to collections. The Biden Administration has taken action to combat and address medical debt, which you can read more about here on our blog. However, there are additional actions that policymakers may take.
NCL has, and continues to fight to protect consumers from excessive troubles due to medical debt, including working with policymakers to combat anti-consumer debt collection policies hospitals continue to practice. The findings from the analysis conducted in this issue brief further highlight the need for 340B Drug Pricing Program reform, to ensure the savings that hospitals receive are reinvested in ways that continue to benefit consumers and patients.
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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit nclnet.org.
