A group of top Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.], is pressing the Department of Health and Human Services for answers about how many Americans could be pushed into bankruptcy as a result of the Trump Administration’s proposed healthcare cuts.
In a letter sent this week to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the lawmakers warned that the combination of expiring Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, Medicaid cuts, and rising insurance premiums could trigger a sharp rise in medical debt — and, by extension, debt collection activity. Their letter underscores growing tension between Congress, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the administration over how medical debt should be treated and could foreshadow new political battles ahead.
“Republicans have shut down the government instead of participating in a bipartisan process to make sure 15 million Americans don’t get kicked off their health care and even more see their health insurance premiums double,” the senators wrote. “If Republicans continue with their health care cuts, medical debt will almost certainly skyrocket.”
The letter, signed by Warren, Sen. Raphael Warnock [D-Ga.], Sen. Chuck Schumer [D-N.Y.], Sen. Ron Wyden [D-Ore.], Sen. Bernie Sanders [I-Vt.], and more than a dozen other Democrats, also criticized the CFPBs decision to withdraw support for a rule that would have eliminated medical debt from consumer credit reports.
The senators said that the move “put corporate profits ahead of the American people” and could worsen the financial strain on families already struggling with unexpected medical costs. Under
For collection agencies and healthcare providers, the stakes are high. Nearly half of all medical bills contain at least one error, and 45 states permit wage garnishment for unpaid medical debt, according to the letter.
The senators asked Secretary Kennedy to provide, by November 1, estimates on how many families will be forced into medical debt-related bankruptcy because of the administration’s policies.
