Advocates to press Biden for action on medical debt in ad campaign

Community Catalyst, an issue advocacy group, will be pressing President Biden and like-minded lawmakers to take more action on medical debt in a new ad campaign set to start Thursday. 

The group will run TV ads right before and after the president’s State of the Union address on Thursday, which will be airing on MSNBC, according to plans first shared with The Hill. 

One of the ads features a Georgia resident, Sherrell Byrd, who lays out her struggles with paying for medical debt. 

“It’s very sad when your mind as a patient is thinking costs versus care,” Byrd says in the 15-second ad. “Medical debt is just another bill that compounds that person’s life.” 

A second ad features a woman identified as Aracely from Illinois, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018.  

“No one wants to be sick and choose between life or debt,” Aracely says in the ad. “The burden of having to choose treatment or having to pay my bills shouldn’t have to fall on me.” 

After Biden’s address, the group will deploy digital ads that will run for a week. They are a part of a five-figure buy, according to a source familiar with the matter. 

The group acknowledges that Biden understands the “importance” of addressing the “issue,” but they are urging his administration to regulate “excessive” charges patients have at nonprofit hospitals, and to address foreclosures and wage garnishment and other issues. 

“We believe it is important to use the State of the Union to highlight this issue and call for further action because nobody should have to make the impossible decision between life and debt,” Community Catalyst Executive Director Emily Stewart said in a statement to The Hill. “But that’s the reality for far too many of us. The Biden administration has done more to address medical debt than any administration prior and we are grateful for that.”  

“But there is more they can and should do. It’s time the Biden administration used all the tools in its toolbox to address the medical debt crisis. Taking on this issue will further the administration’s commitment to advance health equity while simultaneously helping address the rising costs of health care individuals are facing.”

The Biden administration has taken steps to cut down some of the medical costs patients face. 

In September, the Biden administration announced it started looking into lessening medical debt from consumer credit reports.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it would help to “stop debt collectors from coercing people into paying bills they may not even owe, and ensure that creditors are not relying on data that is often plagued with inaccuracies and mistakes.”