Free Republic

...The Biden administration is finalizing a rule Tuesday that will end the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports and ban lenders from using certain medical information in loan decisions. The rule will also remove an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the credit reports of about 15 million people, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said in a press release.... Credit reporting agencies and debt collectors are also expected to oppose the rule. They questioned the bureau’s findings and its authority to issue the regulation...

Millions of Americans are struggling under the crushing weight of rapidly rising health care costs that now force them to choose between putting food on the table or taking care of their health.(Nata-Lia/Shutterstock)Even with insurance, medical bills have become backbreaking as health care expenditures devoured more than 17 percent of the U.S. GDP, an increase of 4.1 percent from the year before.Runaway Growth of Health CostsOver the past few decades, health care expenditures in the United States have skyrocketed.Costs rocketed to nearly $4.5 trillion in 2022 despite reduced services during the pandemic, data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...

I flew on an airline for the first time in the 1970s. Back then airline ticket prices were high due to federal regulations. The government believed ticket prices had to be expensive to ensure enough profit for airlines to invest in quality. According to analysis by The Atlantic, the lowest price an airline could charge for a flight from New York to Los Angeles in 1974 was $1,441, adjusted for inflation. Forty years later – after deregulation – prices had fallen as much as 80 percent for some flights on that route. As The Atlantic put it, “Deregulation worked.” This...

There is at least one issue a divided electorate can come together on this election year: A recent poll finds 90% of those surveyed agreed on the importance of making health care more affordable. Millions of Americans remain uninsured. As Meg Oliver reports in partnership with ProPublica, some people are even going to jail because they're squeezed by a system that's putting new demands on overburdened incomes. Tres and Heather Biggs' son Lane was diagnosed with leukemia when he was five years old. At the same time, Heather suffered seizures from Lyme disease. "We had so many — multiple health...

Several years ago, I had a shoulder injury, and the doctor told me I might need surgery to fix the small tear in my rotator cuff. So, I asked, "Doctor, if I have this surgery, about how much will it cost?" He looked at me confusedly and said, "Steve, I've been doing these surgeries for 20 years, and you are the first patient to ever ask me what it costs!" Then he thought about it and laughed: "I don't know how much this will cost you." Wow. Health care is one of the most expensive items we buy each year,...

The next time you visit a hospital, it is your wallet that may end up hurting the most. All over the United States, it has become common practice for hospitals to wildly inflate medical bills. For example, it has been reported that some hospitals are charging up to 30 dollars for a single aspirin pill. And as you will see below, some victims report being billed tens of thousands of dollars for a non-surgical hospital visit that lasts only a few hours. When something is seriously wrong with us, most of us never stop to ask our health professionals how...

YORK TOWNSHIP— The driver of a Strathmeyer Forests Inc., van and possibly others riding in the van that struck a car at the intersection of Cape Horn Road and Starlight Drive this morning and fled the scene on foot, according to responders. It happened just before 8am. The female driver of the car was taken to York Hospital after being extricated from her vehicle. UPDATE: York Area Regional Police issued a release that a hit and run accident occurred on Cape Horn Road at Starlight Drive and 6 Hispanic males ran west from scene. Two have been apprehended, and...

Two erroneous $11 doctor bills stopped Jeanne White from refinancing her home. The 49-year-old resident of Colleyville, Texas, says she was shocked to learn in October that the two medical bills, which had been turned over to a collection agency, had caused her credit score to fall to 680 from 757 — making refinancing far too expensive. "I was told I'd have to pay $14,000 in closing costs to get a 5.5% interest rate," Ms. White says, substantially more than she would have paid with a higher credit score. When Ms. White, a retired sales manager, contacted the doctor's office,...

Medical bills can create a huge amount of stress related to debt management and the emotional and physical toll of health issues. The Commonwealth Fund recently published a survey indicating that 45% of underinsured Americans and 51% of uninsured people have problems paying medical bills. Many of these individuals and families were borrowing to pay off medical bills which only delay the inevitable financial strain and pending problems to pay off debt. Often, consumers are not sure what to do and get deeper into debt by ignoring the problem. If the bill gets turned over to a collection agency, the...

In a controversial practice known as "balance billing," health-care providers are going after patients for money they don't owe As health-care costs continue to soar, millions of confused consumers are paying medical bills they don't actually owe. Typically this occurs when an insurance plan covers less than what a doctor, hospital, or lab service wants to be paid. The health-care provider demands the balance from the patient. Uncertain and fearing the calls of a debt collector, the patient pays up. Most consumers don't realize it, but this common practice, known as balance billing, often is illegal. When doctors or hospitals...

If someone accumulates a lot of debt due to major medical bills, can the state seize your home if you are unable to pay in a timely manner? Also, which states do not take your home away in this situation?

Half of Bankruptcy Due to Medical Bills — US Study." At least so said the Reuters headline in last week's story. And similar stories in newspapers across the country agree. Soon it will be repeated as gospel on Capitol Hill and by the chattering classes everywhere. Understandably, middle-class Americans have started to feel a little queasy about their health and about the adequacy of their health insurance. The fundamental problem is that it isn't true. Despite what the authors have encouraged us to believe, the Harvard study, entitled "Illness and Injuries As Contributors to Bankruptcy," isn't really about medical bills,...