Summary
Summary: The purpose of this report is to share baseline data on medical debt burden and its impacts in L.A. County, along with a set of community-informed recommendations for how we can begin to address this critical issue at the local level.
Findings: Medical debt is a critical public health issue in Los Angeles (LA) County, with approximately one in ten adults, or around 810,000 residents, impacted and over $2.6 billion in outstanding medical debt as of 2021, based on a new analysis by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Medical debt disproportionately affects families with children; lower-income; Latino, Black, and American Indian/Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and multiracial adults; and those with chronic health conditions, raising concerns related to poverty, racism, and health equity.
Recommendations to reduce medical debt burden in L.A. County include five actions:
- Collect and share additional data related to medical debt, such as health care facilities' debt collection and financial assistance activities to increase transparency and allow for tracking progress.
- Fully implement new fair billing and collection laws, such as increasing charity care where appropriate, limiting the sale of medical debt to debt buyers, requiring collectors to comply with new guidelines, and improving dissemination of information about financial assistance.
- Improve financial assistance programs by simplifying and clarifying applications, investing in navigators to assist patients, improving eligibility for assessment and prescreening, and more.
- Invest in medical debt relief by purchasing L.A. County residents' medical debt to retire it.
- Strengthen local coalitions to address medical debt.
This report uses data from the 2019–2021 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS).
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