‘Don’t Get Sick. It’s Too Expensive’ – Temple Sinai campaigns to eliminate medical debt

by Nancy Liebermann, Member of Multiracial Sinai Committee

“‘Don’t Get Sick. It’s Too Expensive’: Medical Debt is Putting More Americans in Financial Crisis”

Such was the headline of a December 2023 article in The Guardian about America’s healthcare system. Temple Sinai, The Davis Center and the Multiracial Sinai Committee have been doing something about it! Our program this past October, “Equity Reimagined: Medical Debt Overhaul, Reparations and Policy Transformation in the DMV” kicked off our fundraising campaign to erase medical debt specifically in the District and Maryland, where unpaid medical debt is an overwhelming burden for almost 750,000 people.

The burden of medical debt is not just a financial issue; it’s a matter of racial justice and disability justice. People who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are disproportionately affected by medical debt. People with chronic illnesses face an even heavier burden.

Nationally, the statistics are alarming:

• One in 3 Americans struggles with the weight of medical debt.  More than $195 billion is owed nationwide. 
• Medical debt is the primary reason people give for filing for bankruptcy. 
• Nearly half of US adults struggle to afford healthcare costs. For Black, Hispanic and low income adults, that figure jumps to at least 60%. 
• People with medical debt are 3 times more likely to have a mental health issue such as anxiety, stress or depression. 
• People with medical debt often avoid seeking additional medical treatment and filling prescriptions due to cost. 

We recognize that paying off debt, while critical, is a “looking back” solution and that policy changes in our local and national healthcare systems are critical to addressing health care inequities. The guiding principle in this work is that medical debt is about the failures of policies and systems, not people. Both Tzedek DC, who co-sponsored our Medical Debt program and is the local expert, and RIP Medical Debt, are working for needed systemic change:

• Policy and legislative solutions for affordable and comprehensive health care coverage;
• Easy access for enrollment in financial assistance programs, including charity care; and
• Banning extraordinary collection actions and monitoring medical debt.

Temple Sinai is working with RIP Medical Debt, a national non-profit organization providing debt relief to underserved communities, to erase medical debt. For every dollar raised, RIP Medical Debt can eliminate $100 in medical debt – that is a return on investment of 100 to 1! RIP Medical Debt even goes a step further by removing the medical debt off patients’ credit reports. Credit reports with “bad debt” can keep people from getting jobs, housing and access to credit so removing it from their credit reports is particularly impactful.

The debt we are erasing is targeted exclusively to residents in the District and in Montgomery County. Depending on the success of our campaign, RIP Medical Debt may also be able to eliminate debt for Prince Georges’ County residents. Your donation is 100% tax deductible; you will get a receipt from RIP Medical Debt.

We are in the final push of our campaign to eliminate over $2.5 million in medical debt in our area. We are wrapping up our campaign at the end of January 2024 so if you are interested in donating, please visit our fundraising page.

---

For more background, here are some recent articles addressing the inequities, impact and trauma of medical debt:

• December 11, 2023 article in The Guardian addressing huge gaps in US healthcare
• November-December 2023 DC Bar Journal article explaining the crushing impact of medical debt
• New York Times article on woman whose family raised money to eliminate debt posthumously through RIP Medical Debt
• A Washington Post article this past spring reporting on churches and synagogues undertaking campaigns to erase medical debt.