There has been a lot of talk recently about student loan forgiveness—and rightfully so. It’s become a rallying cry across the country, and this week, President Biden signaled to lawmakers that he was open to considering federal loan forgiveness.
But there’s another form of debt that the White House should stay focused on, one that’s devastating families across the nation: medical debt.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 17 percent of U.S. households had accrued somewhere in the neighborhood of $195 billion in medical debt as of 2019, while some studies show that the percentage is even higher. And not just a little debt; a Kaiser Family Foundation report showed millions owe more than $10,000.
