(AmericanProsperity.com) – Two prominent lawmakers, Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna, said that they are working on a new bill aimed at eliminating medical debt. The bill would create a federal grant program that would cancel all existing patient debt and would also amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which would not allow creditors to collect from past medical bills.
This would also prevent credit agencies from reporting information related to any unpaid medical bills, which means that these medical bills will no longer affect one’s credit history. Sanders and Khanna both said that this bill would be “vital for many families’ financial security,” because millions of Americans are sitting on top of medical debt.
According to an investigation, more than one hundred million Americans hold some sort of healthcare debt, and, based on a Census Bureau survey, Americans owe over two hundred billion dollars in medical debt.
Sanders spoke out, saying, “This is the United States of America, the richest country in the history of the world. People in our country should not be going bankrupt because they got cancer and could not afford to pay their medical bills.”
Since running for president four years, Sanders has been pushing for medical debt relief and since becoming the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s chair, he’s continuing with that motive.
Sanders said, “No one in America should face financial ruin because of the outrageous cost of an unexpected medical emergency or a hospital stay.” He continued, “The time has come to cancel all medical debt and guarantee health care to all as a human right, not a privilege.”
Khanna said that he spoke with many Americans who have been affected by medical debt and the financial problems that come with it. They also found that medical debt tends to be a burden for certain people. Those who have disabilities often have more medical debt than those who don’t have a disability.
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