Forgiving, forgetting medical debt could hurt consumers more than help

Addressing medical debt is all the rage in election season optics. After all, a new poll found that 51% of Americans believe it is extremely or very important that the government help with relieving medical debt.

The same day that the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy/Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that having taxpayers forgive people’s medical debt was more popular than putting taxpayers on the hook for people's school debt, the Biden administration advanced a plan to remove medical debt from credit scores. (A similar piece of legislation was considered in the Washington state Legislature this past session. House Bill 2119 tried to prohibit garnishment of a person’s earnings for judgments arising from medical debt. The bill died, thankfully, after a public hearing full of concerns.)