Americans also have medical debt

1/13/2020

As a professional athlete, (Trae) Young's donation speaks volumes for two reasons: It's a reminder of the country's healthcare costs -- the highest in the world -- and that families are struggling with medical debt.

A comment on "Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young Clears More Than $1 Million Medical Debt for Atlanta Families" (C. Thornton)

Gavel and stethoscope (Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Tetra Images)

Jubalyn ExWilliams lives in Pennsylvania (United States). You can find her writings and commentaries, including the one on "Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young Clears More Than $1 Million Medical Debt for Atlanta Families" by C. Thorton, at landturn.com/blog.

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1 Comment

Jubalyn ExWilliams link

8/14/2023 15:19:08

2+ years before the pandemic hit stateside and 1+ years before Biden's Executive Order 14009 included mitigation and relief -- my above commentary noted medical debt in the U.S. as highest in the world. It inspired the accompanying commentary "Americans also have medical debt."

This distinction of this debt load was brought to my attention by Marty Makary in "The Price We Pay." Makary is a surgeon at Johns Hopkins and a public health advocate whose book I was reading at the time of my commentary above. The same month, I went on to finish and review The Price We Pay, his book, at landturn.com/reviews/the-price-we-pay-marty-makary.

"Americans also have medical debt" originated from a post about Trae Young in the cited BlackEnterprise article. Young, an NBA player, was helping families in Atlanta pay off medical debt thru a partnership with RIP Medical Debt.

At the time of Biden's enhanced executive order in 2022, medical debt (and even RIP Medical Debt) was among microeconomic realities lost during the lockdown to, it seems, macroeconomic trends like job losses, shrinking business revenues, and fluctuating unemployment claims. However, medical debt was an issue that preceded 2020. In "The Debt Crisis That Sick Americans Can't Afford," KNH estimates that more than 2X as many Americans have medical debt (100 million) than student loan debt (42 million).

Ultimately, I consider my commentary "Americans also have medical debt" in Jan. 2020 and subsequent review of "The Price We Pay" viral posts.

Americans also have medical debt

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