- Recognize the differences between market, planned, and mixed economies
You can view the transcript for “The real reason American health care is so expensive” here (opens in new window).
Fighting Medical Debt
Philanthropic organizations such as RIP Medical Debt try to alleviate the widespread problem of medical debt. RIP Medical Debt’s business strategy was developed by two former debt collectors, Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton. They knew from speaking with people while trying to collect debts that people really struggled with the burden of debt. They also knew that hospitals sell the debts that they did not want to spend more effort on collecting.
RIP Medical Debt raised money from donors to buy debts on the secondary market for pennies on the dollar. That is, hospitals would sell off these debts at a huge discount just to recover a small fraction of the total amount owed. RIP Medical Debt buys the debt and then sends the lucky debtors a letter saying that their debt was paid![1] While organizations such as this can help individuals, the high cost of medical care will not change without government intervention.
- https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/08/15/1093769295/this-groups-wiped-out-6-7-billion-in-medical-debt-and-its-just-getting-started ↵