Health Care Costs

[UPDATED on June 21] Harmony is not often found between two of the most boisterous senators on Capitol Hill, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.). But it was there at Tuesday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee markup of legislation to reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration’s user fee program, which is set […]

Elizabeth Woodruff tuvo que usar los ahorros de su jubilación y buscar tres trabajos luego que ella y su esposo fueran demandados por casi $10,000 por un hospital de Nueva York, en donde al hombre le amputaron una pierna infectada. Ariane Buck, un joven padre de Arizona que vende seguros de salud, no pudo hacer […]

We had a plan that we were not going to be homeless. Allyson Ward Allyson Ward, 43, Chicago Approximate Medical Debt: $80,000 Medical Issue: Childbirth What Happened: There were times after her sons were born 10 years ago when Allyson Ward wondered whether she and her family would lose their home. On some days, she would tick […]

It makes me sick about medical costs and how this whole thing is done. Amanda Pitzo Joe Pitzo, 42, Brookfield, Wisconsin Approximate medical debt: $350,000 Medical Issue: Cancer What Happened: Joe Pitzo and his wife, Amanda, had been married only five months when Joe was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018. He would need brain surgery and extensive rehab. […]

It was five years of hell. Jim Powers Cindy Powers, 52, Greeley, Colorado Approximate Medical Debt: $250,000 Medical Issue: Twisted intestine What Happened: Cindy Powers was 34 when doctors discovered she had a twisted intestine, a potentially life-threatening condition that doctors told her required immediate surgery. She and her husband, Jim, were living outside Dallas at the […]

I am taken aback by how callous they have been. Elizabeth Woodruff Nick Woodruff, 37, Binghamton, New York Approximate Medical Debt: $20,000 Medical Issue: Diabetes What Happened: Nick Woodruff’s wages were garnished for the first time in 2016. Woodruff, who was diagnosed with diabetes in his 20s, had a good job. He worked for a truck dealership in […]

I feel as if I’ve failed as a parent. Ariane Buck Ariane Buck, 30, Peoria, Arizona Approximate Medical Debt: $50,000 Medical Issue: Infection What Happened: Ariane Buck knew it was important to stay on top of his health care. The young father, who lives with his wife and three children outside Phoenix, had survived cancer when he was […]

Elizabeth Woodruff drained her retirement account and took on three jobs after she and her husband were sued for nearly $10,000 by the New York hospital where his infected leg was amputated. Ariane Buck, a young father in Arizona who sells health insurance, couldn’t make an appointment with his doctor for a dangerous intestinal infection […]

KHN and NPR embarked on a project to understand how widespread medical debt is in America. Here are the most important takeaways of that yearlong investigation: The problem is large. Very large. More than 100 million people, including 41% of adults, are saddled with debt from medical or dental bills, according to a KFF poll […]

When Cynthia Johnson learned she would owe $200 out-of-pocket for a diagnostic mammogram in Houston, she almost put off getting the test that told her she had breast cancer. “I thought, ‘I really don’t have this to spend, and it’s probably nothing,’” said Johnson, who works in educational assessment at a university. But she decided […]