Hospital Bill Debt Forgiveness

A tax expert describes how forgiving medical debts that a healthcare provider will more than likely never collect has an “incredibly low cost, generating very high return” for hospitals.

Working  with cash-strapped patients to restructure or forgive their medical debts could  provide an excellent return on investment for hospitals that probably aren’t  going to recover the money anyway, one analyst says.

The  biggest hurdle, however, is getting the federal government to agree with the  idea, says Brian Haile, senior vice president of Health Care Policy at Nashville-based  Jackson Hewitt Tax Service.

Haile  says focus groups in Tennessee have that found low-income people with huge  medical debts say they would be less likely to pay premiums for health  insurance under programs such as the Affordable Care Act as long as they are paying  older medical debts.

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