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Medical Debt Is Destroying American Families While Insurance CEOs Make Billions

Curated/
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One hundred million Americans are currently carrying medical debt. That's nearly one in three people in the richest country in the history of the world who can't afford to get sick.

By the Numbers

  • The average American family pays over $22,000 per year in health insurance premiums
  • 66.5% of all bankruptcies in America are tied to medical issues
  • 40% of Americans have delayed or skipped medical care because of cost
  • Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group's CEO made $23.5 million in 2023
  • The top 5 health insurance companies posted combined profits of over $40 billion

How You're Getting Screwed

You pay your premiums every month. Then you get sick and discover your insurance doesn't actually cover what you need. Your claim gets denied by someone with no medical training. You appeal, get denied again. You end up on a payment plan that stretches for years while the interest accumulates.

Meanwhile, insurance companies spend billions on stock buybacks to enrich shareholders, hire armies of people whose entire job is to find reasons to deny your claims, and lobby Congress to make sure nothing changes.

The Prescription Drug Scam

Americans pay more for prescription drugs than any other country on earth. Insulin that costs $8 to manufacture sells for $300. EpiPens went from $100 to $600 because a CEO decided they could. And when Congress tries to negotiate drug prices, the pharmaceutical lobby — the biggest in Washington — shuts it down.

This is what happens when healthcare is treated as a profit center instead of a human right. The people at the top get richer while the rest of us choose between paying rent and filling prescriptions.