Health Populi July 21, 2021
The level of medical debt in America exceeded debt of other types in 2020.
Furthermore, the flow of medical debt was greater among health citizens living in states that did not expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act, compared with patients who reside in Medicaid expansion states, according to an original research essay, Medical Debt in the US, 2009-2020 published in JAMA on 20 July 2021.
The first line chart illustrates the trends in medical debt in collections by state expansion of Medicaid, with the bottom darkest line representing debt in collections in Medicaid expansion states from the jump in 2014. Note that the line in 2020 nearly touches the x-axis, tending toward “zero,” or very scant medical...