Most Americans Support Medical Debt Forgiveness, AP-NORC Poll Finds

NEW YORK — Janille Williams wants to buy a house someday — but first he has to pay off tens of thousands of dollars in medical debt.

“I was hospitalized for a blood infection for three months over 10 years ago, and the bill was over $300,000,” said Williams, 38, a resident of Fairbanks, Alaska, who works as a sales manager at AT retail.&T. “I was changing jobs, the only time in my life I didn’t have health insurance.”

When the account went to collections, the debt ended up being reduced to about $50,000, he said, an amount that was still not feasible for him to pay.

Medical debt forgiveness, a priority for some lawmakers and advocates, would make a substantial difference to Williams’ credit report and stop calls from collection agencies.

“They don’t give you a choice in the hospital. ‘If you leave, you will die,’ they told me. I didn’t feel like dying,” Williams said. “I don’t think anyone should have to go into financial ruin to live.”

Many Americans agree, 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. According to the survey, about half of Americans say it is extremely or very important for the U.S. government to provide debt relief to those who have not yet paid for medical treatments.

Especially since the pandemic, an increase number of cities and states – including Connecticut, New York City, New Orleans and Chicago – are implementing their own versions of medical debt forgiveness. The Biden administration recently announced a proposed rule that would eliminate consumer medical debt from most credit reports.

The poll found that support for medical debt forgiveness is particularly high in cases where a patient has experienced healthcare fraud. About two-thirds of U.S. adults support forgiving medical debt if the individual has, for example, been wrongfully billed for services. But most Americans also favor relief in other situations, such as when a patient has made timely payments on an existing loan for 20 years, has large medical debts compared to their income, or is experiencing financial hardship.

About 6 in 10 people with medical bill debt favor medical debt forgiveness if the person has large debts compared to their income, compared to about half of people without medical debt.

Denise Early, a 65-year-old independent in Omaha, Nebraska, who is in favor of medical debt forgiveness, said she suffered an injury at work that ultimately led to several surgeries that she believes should have been covered by workers’ compensation claims. , but they weren’t. The costs eventually led her to declare bankruptcy.

Early was working as a janitor at a post office, she said, when she was injured. After initial hospital visits and treatments were ineffective, Early eventually underwent knee and ankle surgeries to resolve ongoing difficulties.

“I still get bills every day,” Early said. “Forgiveness would help pay off many of my debts.”

Early said he also currently has more than $100,000 in unpaid student loan debt.

Although it reduces student loan debt has been the focus of President Joe Biden, the survey found that Americans are more likely to say that medical debt relief should be a government priority. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults said it is extremely or very important for the U.S. government to provide student debt relief.

Lesley Turner, an associate professor of public policy at the University of Chicago who helped author the survey, said the survey captures a divide over who deserves debt relief.

“If you need to go to the emergency room because of a major health problem, that’s a much less active choice than the decision to go to college,” she said. “Even though, given today’s economy, going to college is an option in many ways, a very important, if not essential, route to economic mobility and stability.”

Overall, Democrats, Republicans and independents are similarly likely to support settling medical debt if the person is experiencing fraud, the AP-NORC poll found, although Democrats are more supportive than Republicans in cases where the person is experiencing hardship. financial debt or if the person has large medical debts compared to their income.

Ed Kane, a 71-year-old Republican from Chicopee, Massachusetts, believes medical debt forgiveness should not be an option. He has survived several medical emergencies — including heart attacks and cancer — and credits his employer’s health insurance for providing good coverage that has kept him debt-free.

“We are starting to become a nation that gives everything. And I’m tired of it,” Kane said. “I’ve worked hard all my life. I worked two jobs. I had great medical insurance because of it. Everyone can do this; There’s no reason why people can’t reach a higher level than they do.”

Medical debt forgiveness is also a higher priority for Democrats. According to the poll, about two-thirds of Democrats say it is extremely or very important for the U.S. government to provide medical debt relief, compared with about 3 in 10 Republicans.

Matt Haskell, 24, of Englewood, Fla., a Republican who said he supports debt forgiveness, also has firsthand experience with high medical bills for an unexpected emergency.

Haskell said he was working on cars, some of which were rusty, at the time of the accident. One afternoon, what appeared to be a piece of dust got into his eye.

“It turns out it was a flake of metal embedded in my cornea,” Haskell said. “I didn’t know five days ago. I went to the emergency room when I couldn’t open my eyes anymore.”

On the visit, Haskell said he incurred more than $4,500 in debt.

“I generally think it’s never anyone’s fault when they have a health problem,” he said. “If they get cancer or a tumor or have an undiagnosed episode of diabetes — it’s not anyone’s fault if they develop something and are now thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.”

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Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

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The survey of 1,309 adults was conducted May 16-21, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. AP is solely responsible for its journalism.