From 2014 to 2019, Maria Yañez accrued nearly $18,000 in medical debt from hospital and clinic visits that still haunt her to this day. She got bronchitis and then asthma, and was uninsured.
“Los biles llegaban constantemente. Y pues eso me afectó mi crédito desafortunadamente,” Yañez said.
She said the bills kept arriving, and unfortunately, negatively impacted her credit score. That can affect someone’s ability to rent, buy a car, and apply for a loan.
Last month, when Yañez got a letter in the mail, she assumed it was just another bill. But to her surprise, it notified her that two medical bills had been paid, erasing about $4,400 of her debt.
“Pues demasiado bendecida, demasiado feliz. Porque pues la verdad no me lo esperaba. De hecho, estaba pensando en hacer una bancarrota para pagar los biles que tengo en el momento,” Yañez said.
Yañez said she is feeling incredibly blessed and happy, and wasn’t expecting it. She said she had been considering filing for bankruptcy. She told KUNR that it’s still a possibility because of her remaining debt.
Medical expenses are the most common contributor to personal bankruptcies, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Yañez isn’t the only person who felt some relief last month. The nonprofit Somos Votantes Education Fund, in partnership with the nonprofit Undo Medical Debt, erased more than $133 million in medical debt for Washoe and Clark County residents through its Seeds of Relief program.
Debt has big ripple effects, said Melissa Morales, the founder and president of the Somos Votantes Education Fund.
“People don't get the health care that they need, they don’t go to the doctor, they don’t get treated when they’re sick,” Morales said.
Recipients did not have to apply. They were chosen if they owed more than 5% of their annual income in medical debt and made equal to or below four times the federal poverty level, which is a little over $100,000 for a family of three.
Nearly one in 12 adults in the U.S. has medical debt, according to the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF.
People are hurting economically and looking for some breathing room, Morales said.
“Nobody chooses to get sick. Nobody chooses to have to go to the hospital and end up with astronomical bills that they can't pay,” Morales said. “This sort of debt really is a no-fault kind of debt. These are everyday people who happen to stumble into some bad luck.”
Morales is also advocating for governmental changes. A new state law bars hospitals from reporting medical debt if transparency laws weren’t followed.
“People shouldn’t need relief from a healthcare system that’s supposed to be caring for them,” she said. “If there is a policy solution to be had, we should continue to push for that, and it feels like state and local governments are a great way to start to address that.”
However, earlier this year, the governor vetoed a bill that would have stopped threats of arrest, home foreclosures, and wage garnishments for a certain time period, and state lawmakers failed to pass a bill to create a $5 million medical debt fund.
In July, a federal judge also struck down a Biden-era policy to block medical debt from consumer credit reports.
