remember RIP Medical Debt? they got tons of press for paying off people's health care debts a giant randomized study found it didn't actually help “The idea that maybe we could get rid of medical debt, and it wouldn’t cost that much money but it would make a big difference, was appealing. What we learned, unfortunately, is that it doesn’t look like it has much of an impact.” nytimes.com/2024/04/08/sci…
@ZekeFaux Medical debt relief, like lotteries & Ozempic, only temporarily relieve symptoms, leaving the disease festering. Discipline, diet & upskilling to improve life prospects & quality are incredibly hard, especially after a lifetime without them. x.com/ideafaktory/st…
@ZekeFaux Medical debt relief, like lotteries & Ozempic, only temporarily relieve symptoms, leaving the disease festering. Discipline, diet & upskilling to improve life prospects & quality are incredibly hard, especially after a lifetime without them. x.com/ideafaktory/st…
@ZekeFaux So it didn’t turn into better financial health, but presumably it impacted their consumption in positive ways then?
@ZekeFaux Removing debt does one thing: it removes debt. Any effects on mental health or credit scores are a side-effect bonus. The debt is gone, and that is a real thing.
@ZekeFaux Didn’t help mental health because it was never going to be repaid, didn’t help credit score because no one considers it, and didn’t get them to go to the doctor more because they were scared of going back into debt. Fairly predictable unfortunately.
@ZekeFaux I work in housing and we ignore medical debt. Would not be surprised if that’s relatively common.