Americans are worried about health care

By Jim Manley, on March 8, 2020

This letter to the editor originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Nearly 13 million Pennsylvanians depend on hospitals when they are sick or injured. Unfortunately, hospitals are profiting while patients are struggling.

Americans are universally worried about the cost of health care, according to recent Ipsos-Consumers for Quality Care research, with 91% of patients concerned about receiving surprise bills from hospitals. In fact, 1.5 million Pennsylvanians have unpaid medical debt, and 59% of bankruptcy filers in America believe that medical debt was a contributor to their bankruptcy.

Despite this, consumers continue to fall victim to surprise bills and hospitals across the country are targeting patients with predatory actions like lawsuits, wage garnishment and home liens over unpaid medical debt.

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