The economy has hit everyone hard, from the rising costs of basic necessities, to travel prices, and even paying medical bills. More and more people are racking up debt at alarming rates, and some are in holes so deep they cannot see light. All thanks to an economy wrecked by endlessly printing money, overspending, and corruption.
As Washington continues being exposed for rampant corruption by DOGE, everyday Americans are left footing the bill. In the case of the for-profit medical industry, the bills have gotten so high, people are borrowing billions to pay them off. Findings from the West Heatlh-Gallup Healthcare survey show around 31 million Americans borrowed money in 2024 to pay for medical care, totaling a mindboggling $74 billion.
People facing health issues are getting hit twice by the broken economy. First, basic essentials and medication are unaffordable. Then comes their actual medical bills. Ken Alltucker of USA Today says that younger people borrowed more often, but for less amounts of money. As for older people, they borrowed less frequently, but for much higher amounts.
"It was over $3,000 typically they would borrow...that makes sense, when you get older you have more chronic health conditions," he says.
That 31 million number totals to roughly 11 percent of the U.S. population, with 58 percent of people saying they were concerned they would rack up huge medical debt if they had a huge issue. That survey included about 3,583 people over all 50 states.
The healthcare industry though is a mostly for-profit industry. They care about their bottom line before mostly anything else. But insurance companies are in on the game too, as they leave people stuck with high deductibles.
"A lot of people struggle with that, whether it is a doctor's visit or surgery, it can cost several thousand dollars, or even over ten thousand dollars...people have to pay a portion of that, and it is difficult for a lot of people to do," says Alltucker.
There is some hope on the horizon, though. Many Americans used Medicaid and other forms pf public insurers. The cuts that DOGE is making, as far as slashing out spending waste, fraud and corruption, might go a long way in helping people stay out of debt.
The GOP has proposed a resolution that would ultimately, at least in theory, would end with $880 billion in savings and cuts from a congressional committee overseeing Medicaid. Now, the first thing people will scream is "oh my god, Trump is cutting Medicaid! How evil!" But that is just not the case.
In fact, House Speaker Mike Johnson has said they plan to get that $880 billion mostly from savings in cutting out all the swamp-related fraud that goes on in Washington. That would mean nothing with Medicaid benefits gets touched.
However, there is one hiccup with all the cuts. The Trump Administration has not said definitively whether or not they plan to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. However, there are huge cuts expected to take place within the department, and that leaves one law in the balance that could help the situation.
"That would prohibit people pursuing medical debt in collections from reporting that to credit reporting agencies," Alltucker says. "That is based around the idea that medical bills are often wrong, and it is not fair to hit someone's credit with medical bills."
According to a 2022 report from the CFPB, medical bills accounted for more than half of debt collection on credit records. That law, which was set to take effect this month, has been blocked by a federal judge in Texas, as well as credit unions.
Alltucker adds that the law, amid various legal challenges and cuts at the bureau, might not take effect until June. If it does at all. Until then store some cash under the mattress in case of a rainy health day.
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