FILE - A shadow is seen across a Medicare card on June 10, 2024, in Portland, Ore. Majorities of Americans favor forgiving all or some of an individual’s medical debt if the person is facing hardships, according to a new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. NEW YORK — Janille Williams wants to buy a house someday — but first, he has to pay down tens of thousands of dollars in medical debt.
Medical debt forgiveness, a priority for some lawmakers and advocates, would make a substantial difference to Williams’ credit report and stop the calls from collections agencies. Denise Early, 65, an Independent in Omaha, Nebraska, who favors medical debt forgiveness, said she experienced an injury on the job that eventually led to several surgeries she believes should have been covered by workers’ compensation claims, but were not. The costs eventually pushed her to declare bankruptcy.
Lesley Turner, an associate professor of public policy at the University of Chicago, who helped craft the poll, said the survey captures a divide regarding who deserves debt relief. Ed Kane, a 71-year-old Republican from Chicopee, Massachusetts, believes medical debt forgiveness should not be an option. He’s survived multiple medical emergencies — including heart attacks and cancer — and credits his employer health insurance for providing good coverage that kept him out of debt.
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