A new poll claims medical debt is crushing some Americans to the point where they're being forced into homelessness.
More than 100 million people in America — 41% of adults — are saddled with medical bills they cannot pay, according to a 2022 KFF Health News investigation with NPR and CBS News.
Of those, about one in five said the debts have forced them to change their living situation, including moving in with friends or family.
Medical debt covers more than just bills patients can't afford, but other borrowing used to pay for health care as well, including credit cards, personal bank loans, or loans from family and friends.
According to KFF's poll, a quarter of adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000. Most adults (59%) they will be able to pay off their debt within two years, including a third who think they will pay it off within a year. However, nearly one in five say they don't think they will ever pay it off.
"About half of adults with health care debt say they have made what they feel to be a difficult sacrifice in order to pay down their debt," the survey noted. "These sacrifices have left some individuals feeling as if they could not provide a good life for their families, or with a general sense that they will never be able to extricate themselves from debt."
As highlighted in a report by NPR, medical debt can undermine housing security in a variety of ways. For example, patients may fall behind on rent or mortgage payments as they attempt to prioritize their medical debt in order to continue receiving treatments. Medical debt can also lower credit scores, making it harder to secure a lease or financing.
Health and housing goes hand in hand, with stable housing linked to physical and mental wellbeing, according to a Health Affairs Health Policy Brief. On the other hand, providing access to stable housing can improve health and reduce health care costs, the report noted.
One state -- Colorado -- has enacted a bill that prohibits medical debt from being included on credit reports or factored into their credit scores, and advocates are pushing the federal government to take similar action, NPR reported.