How to Navigate Medical Debt
Fact checked by Shannon Sparks When chest pains sent 30-year-old Kaylee Ament of Sandwich, Illinois, to the emergency room, she expected care, not financial turmoil. Four hours of blood work, an EKG, and what doctors ultimately determined was heartburn left her with a bill she never anticipated. “I just didn’t think about it,” Ament says. […]
A Lifetime of Medical Debt
Fact checked by Derick Wilder If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that healthcare costs too much, and something must be done about it. Okay, not all of us. Insurance companies would disagree, despite what their marketing campaigns tell us. Out-of-pocket healthcare spending per person reached $1,514 in 2023, according to health […]
Between Remission and Rent
Fact checked by Jim Lacy “Can I afford this”? I asked myself the question before dialing my oncologist’s office. Less than a year ago, my doctor told me I was “cancer-free” based oninitial blood work, but I needed to schedule a follow-up appointment. For many cancer patients, remission does not begin once they learn the […]
The Price We Pay
A snapshot of the United States’ healthcare financials Fact checked by Shannon Sparks Three-fourths of countries worldwide explicitly protect their citizens’ right to health in their constitutions. The United States is not one of them. Not only is healthcare not considered a human right in the U.S., but insurance companies and their shareholders profit off […]
Undoing Debt
As residents stress over unpaid medical bills, Illinois pilot programs pledge to abolish $1 billion of medical debt Fact checked by Jim Lacy Gloria Austin knew she had a problem when a red rash, a line around her stomach, appeared, as pain ramped up. The East Garfield Park resident was 62 at the time. After […]