Tzedek DC Founding President & Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman, with support from Equal Justice Works Medical Debt Fellow Jennifer Holloway, submitted testimony this week for two Performance Oversight Hearings before the DC Council Committee on Hospital & Health Equity and Committee on Health. The testimonies highlight the efforts of Mayor Bowser, Deputy Mayor Turnage, and the Department of Health Care Finance to relieve medical debt.
As the testimony notes, medical debt is a racial justice and disability justice issue. DC households of color are three times more likely than white households to have medical debt and five times more likely to be uninsured. Additionally, illness is a stronger predictor of medical debt than insurance, making the disabled community particularly vulnerable to medical debt. Because of medical debt, disabled individuals are more likely to forgo future medical care, often worsening their health problems. The scope of the problem is also significant. In the District, more than 90,000 residents may have outstanding medical debt, with more than 40,000 residents facing a medical debt in active collections.