How to prevent medical debt before it happens Sickness can beget debt, which can then turn around and beget more sickness. That’s the all-too-unfortunate cycle for people across the country who find themselves with overwhelming medical debt, the most common reason a debt collector might come after someone, with 1 in 5 households going into debt to pay for medical care.
Because hospitals, health care providers, insurers, employers sponsoring insurance, and others are responsible for people incurring medical debt, they can all intervene earlier to prevent that from happening.
This week on the “First Opinion Podcast,” Michelle Proser addresses ways to prevent medical debt and offers potential stopgaps that could help people get out of debt and into necessary, supportive health care environments. Listen Now “If we want to improve health outcomes and eliminate health inequities as an entire health care system, we really need to think about those care experiences more holistically — of which medical billing is an important part,” Proser said. She is a senior director of the Financial Health Network, which recently published a series of reports on preventing medical debt. Like what you hear? Subscribe to The First Opinion Podcast on your favorite platform. New episodes are released every Wednesday morning. | 
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