A new poll from national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt finds growing support from all sides of the political spectrum to protect patients from medical debt.
Nationwide, 14 million people have over $23 billion of medical debt.
In Florida, around 1.5 million people report having medical debt in a given year. This burden is even more considerable for Florida’s oldest residents, as 14% of the state’s seniors have outstanding medical debt.
Some of the poll’s results show 94% support limiting the interest rate allowed to be charged for medical debt. 90% support limiting collection agencies’ ability to take a person’s house, belongings or cars due to medical debt and 89% support requiring all hospitals to use the same, user-friendly application for financial assistance.
On dealing with the cost of health insurance, 70% believe healthcare is unaffordable. Nearly half of respondents (45%) are struggling to afford common medical expenses and more than one-third of voters (35%) have medical debt.
76% said they want their state to pass laws that protect them from medical debt with 89% of respondents want state lawmakers to pass legislation to help people understand who is suing them for medical debt.
Voter Views on Healthcare:
When asked about who is looking after their best interests, 85% of voters say healthcare providers, followed by hospitals with 78%.
An overwhelming majority of voters (84%) agree insurance should protect people from medical debt.
Voters believe that insurance companies are the most at fault for medical debt (63%) followed by pharmaceutical companies (12%).
While polling numbers show the Republicans have better numbers on dealing with spending and the economy, when it comes to healthcare and who’s better at handling it, a recent survey revealed around 40% of U.S. adults say they trust the Democrats to do a better job handling health care, compared to 25% who said they trust the GOP.
