I'm not assuming anything, I'm wondering about their methodology (and since it's a self-reporting survey, how people were answering the questions).

Medical debt is a huge problem but to craft solutions we need to fully understand that problem. Should, for example, insurance companies collect "deductibles" ahead of time and refund those not used, similar to how you could use an HSA? Should healthcare providers and insurance companies be required to offer 0% financing for 12 months for certain amounts or certain customers?

The vast takeaway is usually "this survey supports what I think should be done" which often results in not much of anything being done, or getting something worse than what was before.

$1000 is $2 / day for les than 2 years (if you can do math unlike commenter below, that's including nearly 20% APR). I'm sorry but even the poor in america can come up with some way to make $14 in a week, if nothing else by picking up some cans.

I live in a city where a segment of impoverished people come up with ways to spend $20+ a day in fentanyl, and they don't seem to have much trouble coming up with that even while living in a tent.

You're taking one person's experience, who has mild medical expenses and applying their situation to loads of poor people as if their experience exemplifies the experiences of millions. Frankly, that's disgusting and while I don't wish you awful medical debt, it sounds like you could stand to be humbled by some.

Think of bigger medical expenses over the same period -- 10k. That's 20/day. 100k -- 200/day. Now add ACA monthly costs (300-400/mo). Then rent, then food. Etc etc.

>You're taking one person's experience, who has mild medical

"You" being the parent OPs who I responded to who introduced the nation of $1000, which happens to be above the median for my state and most states shown in the article? Remember I'm RESPONDING to the $1000 comment, not introducing the figure. But maybe they said something about the $1000 you agreed about, so you went with the disingenuous approach of only impugning someone commenting on it and in bad faith accusing THAT person of introducing the figure.

The MAJORITY in my state and most states have less than $1000 in medical debt. Millions. This isn't some edge case. $1000 "exemplifies" the median medical debt in most states, according to the article.

>sounds like you could stand to be humbled by some

Yeah a subtle suggestion I ought to experience medical problems. Keep it classy. "Frankly, that's disgusting."

>Think of bigger medical expenses over the same period -- 10k. That's 20/day. 100k -- 200/day. Now add ACA monthly costs (300-400/mo). Then rent, then food. Etc etc.

Yes I thought about it, and then decided my $2/day figure still holds as a possible approach for paying off median medical debt. Thanks for the thought exercise!

I'm really not sure how a median of $1000 is supposed to make your point any better.

I'm not sure how throwing around a $100k figure is supposed to make your point any better. If it's worth considering the 100k case of the minority it's worth considering the half of person's in these states for whom the debt is under $1k.

My intention was never to show that someone with $100k of medical debt could get out of it as easily as the majority with far less.

14 per week might be the difference between eating ok and not eating.

You can eat "ok" on $2 a day?

Yes if you are careful, but that isn't what I said. You are assuming that the base spent on food is 0 + 2 when that wasn't what I said.

>difference between eating ok and not eating.

>difference

> eating ok

> not eating

If you're not eating it follows you're eating $0 worth of food. So it is what you said, unless you're implying someone is spending money on food without eating any of it.

I'm interested in the meals you suggest that you think are "eating ok" while maintaining the nutrition to work, $2 all in per day (food cost + transport to buy the food + cost to cook the food + depreciation on any utinsils / cookware).

Also keep in mind many poor people live in a food desert so if you're counting on discount food you're gonna need a bus ticket or a hell of a long walk once in awhile.

As an aside, it's worth noting if your suggestion is true and one can truly eat ok on $2 a day, then the median medical debt holder who spends say $4 a day on food can easily pay off their loans in a few years following your cooking advice. You just came up with a way for them to produce $2 / day without any additional income.

There are multiple meals per day if one has to skip some of them to make ends meat then they are "not eating" those meals.

It's a bit more complicated than you are making it out to be, it would not hurt to remember you are talking about fellow human beings and not just numbers in a spreadsheet.

As for inexpensive ways to eat please see https://old.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/

Got it, the typical person can browse reddit, come up with an "ok" diet for $2 day, saving them $3+ a day vs what even the typical working class person spends on food. And simultaneously you believe it is achievable to save this $3+ per day eating following your reddit suggestion while somehow not being able to use $2 of those $3+ to pay your medical bills?

Do you find that being this uncharitable is an effective way to communicate with others?

You haven't actually been poor like that in the US. That isn't a question, it is a statement. I have as have others I know so yes even a few dollars per day can make/break the budget.

>You haven't actually been poor like that in the US. That isn't a question, it is a statement. I have as have others I know so yes even a few dollars per day can make/break the budget.

I don't know how poor you have been or are. And you don't know how poor I have been either. I'm not going to play oppression olympics with you. I have been homeless, sleeping in ditches and parks before, living off of minimum wage day labor. Even back then, if I needed $2 I simply worked an extra 15 minutes moving drywall at construction sites or whatever. Those who can't work may end up buying snacks with their foodstamp card and hawking them to high schoolers walking to school or something (as I see many homeless do near my house). There are very few people who aren't already covered by medicaid/medicare who are incapable of coming up with $2 / day somehow, and if they are they are the extreme case. Again even _drug addicts_ in my neighborhood, while high out of their minds, somehow manage to come up with $20/day for their fentanyl habit and that doesn't even cover the rest of their necessities.

And as an aside, I'm not buying the argument that being broke somehow makes you more of an expert on how to budget. The poor in this country are notoriously victims of sub-par education which sadly leaves many of them poorly situated to navigate managing their own economic future. If I want budgeting advice I'd much rather ask say a guy who started his own restaurant vs some random broke person on the street.

> I'm not going to play oppression olympics with you.

That wasn't my point. Honestly please take a look at your interaction with me and reflect on it, it isn't necessary to engage in such a hostile fashion. You have read a lot into what I have written that simply isn't there.

You have a pleasant rest of your day.

You have read a lot into what I have written that simply isn't there. It's not a good look to clam up and play the victim when called out on your presumptuous and contradictory statements, including your assuming the economic background of someone based on a short dialogue. Remember just one post ago you found it completely valid to retort about how I "haven't actually been poor like that" and how you have.

Please take a look at your interaction with me and reflect on it, and think to yourself about how you can be less presumptuous.

>You have a pleasant rest of your day.

Likewise!

Do you get your loans at 0% APR? Where do I sign?

Accounts Receivable at your local hospital.

People live in tents because 100% of their income goes to opiates.

They can’t make more money and save it, because their needs will always exceed their income short of massive windfalls

Yes, if you are living in a tent and are addicted to opiates, I doubt that "medical debt" would be anything that even registers on your radar. You'll get emergency medical care as needed at the nearest public ER, and since you don't have an address they probably won't even bother to try to send you a bill.

I’m in Canada and there is no medical debt but homeless addict encampments in many cities.