In our urgent public debates about our broken healthcare system, we haveoverlooked the devastating personal and social impact of America's medical debtcrisis. Millions of Americans face $1 trillion in unpayable medical debt! Thethree authors of End Medical Debt in 2014 began RIP Medical Debt, a tax-exemptcharity that locates, buys and forgives medical debt. RIP first came toAmerica's attention in 2016 when HBO's "Last Week Tonight with JohnOliver" used the charity to abolish $15 million in medical debt. Inresponse to public support since then, by the end of 1018, RIP had abolished ahalf billion dollars in medical debt for 250,000 Americans in communitiesacross the country. From their distinct viewpoints as debt collections andhealthcare administration insiders, the three authors take a realistic look atour healthcare system, revealing how and why we got into this mess ofskyrocketing costs, shrinking insurance coverage, rising deductibles, andmounting medical debt. They view debt forgiveness as a necessary interimsolution until we agree on a better financial structure for our unhealthyhealthcare system. End Medical Debt delves into the most popular proposedsolutions -- repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, insurance reform,drug price controls, adding a Medicare Option to the ACA for those over age 50or 55, and Medicare-for-All (single-payer universal healthcare). The bookconcludes with the call for an American Medical Debt Commission that reports toCongress annually about the national medical debt crisis. The book furtherpresents practical tips for those burdened by personal medical debt.
Jerry Ashton, Robert Goff, Craig Antico ; edited by Judah Freed.
