How companies and nonprofits are tackling the U.S. healthcare crisis—until there’s a federal policy solution

The healthcare crisis in the U.S. is one marked by rising costs, coverage gaps, staggering medical debt, and attacks on access.

While various groups have stepped up with innovative solutions to address these serious issues, experts say the crisis is likely to get worse in the absence of radical policy change at the federal level.

Consider how Undue Medical Debt is tackling the $220 billion in medical debt that affects some 100 million Americans.

Since the nonprofit was founded more than a decade ago, it has forgiven $27 billion in debt for 17 million people by buying debt for pennies on the dollar using donations.

But the cumulative mountain of debt is likely to grow even higher as costs go up, Allison Sesso, president and CEO, said during a panel discussion at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. 

While states have stepped in with some measures to protect consumers from more serious financial ramifications that might stem from their medical debt, such actions—and the work that Undue Medical Debt is doing—are merely a Band-Aid of sorts.

“It is a systems problem and we have to address it in a systems way, and the system is very much broken for people,” Sesso said.

OTHER SOLUTIONS

One of those problems is that there’s a ripple effect to federal policy changes, like the approximately $1 trillion that will be cut from the Medicaid program over the next decade.

That will increase costs for everyone, which penalizes employers and employees who rely on employer-sponsored healthcare plans, noted Shelly Towns, chief marketing officer at Lantern, a company that helps bring down costs related to specialty care, including cancer and surgery.

“We are trying to steer as many members as possible into low-cost care, which can come with a very high-quality bar—which is what we require,” Towns said. “And you can just save a ton of money by doing that.”

Finally, another route for addressing the current crisis is through the courts.

Of the 200-plus legal actions that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed, it has won 64% of them, said Ambalika Williams, senior campaign strategist for reproductive freedom at the civil rights organization.

And in the absence of a federal policy solution, advocacy is one way to push back—but it requires the voices of many to be successful, she said. 

“Folks in the business community: You all have a very unique role here in standing up to really protect what we have and improve on what we have,” Williams said. “That’s why it’s really important when we see these things happening—that we’re using our voices to speak out so more and more people know about it.”