Luke Messac is the author of Your Money or Your Life: Debt Collection in American Medicine.
In the US, patients recovering from life-threatening illnesses often find that their first concern is not their health but the massive medical debts they’ve incurred. Right-wing politicians, insurers, and hospitals have worked to maintain this status quo.
Medical debt has ballooned in the US in recent decades. Hospitals and collection agencies are making a killing on it, eroding trust in the health care system and leading countless patients into financial ruin in the process.
Hospitals portray unions as opposed to the interests of patients. The opposite is true: health care unions have been the strongest advocates for safer conditions and patients who can’t pay debts.