Overview

"Medical debt can be purchased for pennies on the dollar"

• "The $13 billion of planned relief would cost taxpayers around $137 million"

Results

• "Null effect on the number of accounts past due"

• "Debt relief increases unpaid bills sent to collections" 

Implementation

Context

Experiment # 1

Status Quo

Debt Relief

Treatment Arms

Enrolled 75,873 people 

Debt collector pursues repayment

Timeline

One Year

Notified via two letters

Experiment # 2

Status Quo

Debt Relief

Treatment Arms

Enrolled 137,038 people 

Debt collector pursues repayment

Timeline

Several Years

Notified via two letters

Questions

• What share of debt is medical?

• How exactly does medical debt get reported?