A bipartisan bill would help Ohioans with medical debt pay it off without losing their homes or incomes or leaving their credit rating in tatters.
It's a situation that Rachel Doan of Columbus knows all too well. In 2010, her seven-year-old son, Luke, was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a disease that required expensive hospitalization and treatment.
"My husband and I both had jobs. We had benefits," Doan said. After his first hospitalization, they received his first medical bill for $125,000. The medical bills kept coming after Luke went into kidney failure.
"There was a huge financial albatross over us. I would like to tell you that albatross is gone, but 15 years later, I am still paying my son's medical bills," Doan said.
Rep. Michele Grim (D-Toledo) said the financial burden Doan's family faces is the same many other Ohio families deal with every day. She said House Bill 257, known as the Ohio Medical Fairness Act, would cap the amount of interest on medical payments at 3%, would protect patients' credit ratings, and prevent providers or creditors from seizing cash, homes, or properties.
“Medical debt is a burden that affects the physical, mental and financial health of our families," Grim said. She said the Kaiser Family Foundation found that people with medical debt report cutting spending on food, clothing and other household items, spending down their savings to pay for medical bills, borrowing money from friends or family members, or taking on additional debts.
"It’s a crisis hiding in plain sight," Grim said. “States across the country have already taken steps to reform how medical debt is treated. It’s time for Ohio to do the same."
Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) said she personally knows families who have been affected by high medical debt.
“This bill is commonsense and it will give Ohioans added safeguards so they can continue to get well.”
But Schmidt cautioned this isn't a way for patients to escape or write off their medical bills, but it levels the playing field for patients trying to deal with it.
“This bill does not forgive the debt. You will still have to pay for it. But it provides the necessary guardrails so it doesn’t ruin your credit, have you not be able to have a wage to live on, possibly losing your house or your car. That can’t happen," Schmidt said. "Medical debt is not a choice."
The bill would not be limited to families based on their incomes. The representatives said the goal is to keep families experiencing medical bill hardship from spiraling even deeper into debt. Families would be required to work with the hospital or medical providers to set up an affordable payment plan.
Cleveland and Toledo have worked on initiatives to help residents manage medical debt, and some states have purchased medical debt to provide relief.
