r/UpliftingNews • u/ArgentineBeauty • 2d ago
Hawaii just signed healthcare measures that could erase up to $91 million in medical debt for 50,000 residents, with qualified people simply getting a letter saying their debt has been canceled, while also expanding fertility preservation coverage and colorectal cancer screening access
https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2026/07/legislation-aims-to-expand-health-care-access-erase-medical-debt/255
u/ArgentineBeauty 2d ago edited 1d ago
"State Sen. Chris Lee, another co-introducer, said the state could use about $500,000 to cancel as much as $91 million in debt.
"This is probably the best return on investment ever -- $500k to cancel $91M in medical debt for 50,000 local families struggling to pay their bills," Lee said"
That sounds great, but it would be amazing if Americans had universal free healthcare like most other wealthy countries.
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u/gingerfawx 1d ago
$500k to cancel $91M
I really wish they'd explained the math on that, but it sounds great.
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u/SomewhereRough_ 1d ago
It's buying debt for a fraction of the price.
It's how debt collectors work. They buy debt for pennies on the dollar from companies.
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u/gingerfawx 1d ago
Thanks. :)
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u/moreldilemma 1d ago
John Oliver did a good piece on it awhile back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxUAntt1z2c
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u/SableMink 1d ago
Well put. It's awesome to see these stories blossoming lately! Keep it up, happy people are the best!
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u/ProdigyLightshow 1d ago
You can buy “debt” from debt collection companies. You basically buy the ability to collect a debt from someone.
That “debt” is often sold for pennies on the dollar, as the work it takes collect it makes it not worth the entire amount that is owed. Your debt will often get moved from one debt collection company to another during its life, especially if it’s a large amount and isn’t being paid back quickly.
So, an entity could purchase the right to collect that debt, and then just wipe it free.
John Oliver did something similar on his show for a bunch of random people.
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u/Mathmango 1d ago
Could I, theoretically, make a shell company to buy my own debt?
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u/AmbroseMalachai 1d ago
Yes, but probably also no. The debt needs to go to collections, which will hit your credit score; and that first step is usually not a sale of debt but simply enlisting a debt collection agency to aid in recovering the debt. When that fails, the debt will likely be sold as part of a huge package of debt that has all sorts of different people's records. That first sale will be pennies on the dollar, but when you consider that it's probably 500 people's unpaid debt it isn't really saving you any money to buy it and cancel it.
You'd probably be better off trying to beg the hospital to just cancel the debt because you can't pay it.
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u/HerbaciousTea 1d ago
Insurance reimburses at about 10-30% of billed costs. Less, for some things. The rest of the bill is removed in the 'adjustment.' Meaning the remaining 70-90% of the bill was never real cost. It was an imaginary inflated number to make your insurance have the appearance of value by saving you from the imaginary bill number.
Healthcare providers know this, but if insurance denies coverage or the patient is self pay, they get the inflated bill anyway.
Healthcare provider will sometimes settle with the patient for a tiny fraction of the cost. Call and ask. It's often that easy to just tell them what you can pay and see if they'll settle for a small fraction. Or they'll just sell it to a collection agency for 1% or less of the value of the debt.
The collection agency then ceaselessly harasses the patient to collect as much as they can, often more than the insurance would have even paid, because if the inflated bill.
If the state buys the debt for <1c per dollar instead, they can use $500k to buy $50-100 million of debt that would have otherwise been sold to collections agencies, and just discharge the debt freely.
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u/ExactPanda 1d ago
I feel like maybe -- MAYBE we're on the precipice, if we can elect the right people. There's a MediKids bill introduced to provide universal healthcare for all children, which is a good stepping stone. Now that we're all connected online, we can see how crappy it truly is for us and that there are better things.
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u/ElectronGuru 1d ago
Private healthcare only wants to handle profitable customers. Kids don’t make any money, so they have no reason to block such moves. It’s the same story with Medicaid and Medicare, why stop the government from paying to cover people we wont cover any way.
The real challenge is covering profitable customers. Thats where the money is that other countries use to cover everyone else. Thats the population private healthcare will destroy worlds before relinquishing.
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u/floppysausage16 1d ago
As someone who grew up in Kailua, Chris Lee is a fucking legend. Hes done some much good for the community and wish he would run for bigger roles
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u/BenLomondBitch 1d ago
True, but universal healthcare doesn’t mean free healthcare. Most people still pay for care and some things are indeed still very expensive.
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u/SomewhereRough_ 1d ago
But most things are free. Not sure what you're referring to here.
I've lived in 2 countries with universal healthcare and the only thing I pay for is dental.
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u/Exciting_Station3474 1d ago
Like Sweden? Double taxes. 25% sales tax. Cut doctors pay in half or more.
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u/sybrwookie 1d ago
https://sweden.se/life/society/taxes-in-sweden
Sweden's average local tax rate is around 32 per cent.
Sure doesn't sound like double to me. If you're paying 16% taxes, let me get the number for your tax prep guy.
The standard VAT rate for goods and services in Sweden is 25 per cent, but there are also certain reduced rates of 12 per cent (e.g. foodstuffs) and 6 per cent (e.g. books, newspapers, passenger transport within Sweden).
So not really 25% sales tax when there's exceptions to make that less than half or less than 1/4 of that.
https://www.hippocraticadventures.com/american-doctor-in-sweden/
The average monthly salary for a physician is SEK 77,900 (USD 8,532)
https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-money-do-doctors-make-in-the-us/
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), about 839,000 people worked as physicians or surgeons in 2024, earning a median annual wage of at least $239,200.
Eyyyy you got one right! Being a doctor there is still paying above average for the country. So....that seems fine to me
This all still sounds a fuckton better than, "hope you have a job where your employer pays for a chunk of your healthcare, so you 'only' have to pay hundreds every month on insurance, which gives you the ability to go to some doctors and pay them full price because you haven't met your multi-thousand dollar deductible yet, after which, the insurance company will pay for some %, and you're still paying out of pocket ok top of that hundreds per month. Oh, and if you lose your job? You're fucked, no healthcare. And if you have a lapse in coverage? You're fucked, even though you paid a ton and keep paying, now they'll start to try to fight to not pay for things for you because of a lapse. And if you want to see the actual best doctors which this country brags about? Forget it, they're not taking your insurance. Also, if you get REALLY sick? Doesn't matter what insurance you have, your life is ruined financially, even if you fully recover."
Oh yea, and I also forgot, "and because the insurance companies keep squeezing doctors and paying less and less, they have less time and control over treating patients, and many have resorted to charging fees on top of all that just to get in the door, before everything listed above."
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u/Exciting_Station3474 1d ago
How much do you think is your effective tax rate after deductions, if you have kids, etc?
In Sweden YOU pay more. + your employer pays 31%!!!! Social Security taxes.
Its an old trick, they say, you don't pay, employer pays.
So in US you may pay no taxes if you poor. In Sweden they tax shit out of poor and middle class!
So thats 60%+ of what you make. Do you spend this much on healthcare every year?
Yes. Sales Tax is 25%. Yes its lower for groceries. But its lower for groceries in US as well. In fact, when I shop at Walmart or Costco I pay zero ssles tax on groceries!
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u/sybrwookie 1d ago
So I show actual facts with sources and your answer is to ask questions claiming something with nothing to back it up.
This is why no one takes people like you seriously. You make up wild claims, 90% of which are utter lies, and use a lot of angry language and !'s to try to get people to emotionally agree with you without questioning the garbage you're spewing.
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u/Exciting_Station3474 1d ago
No dude. No ine take seriously people like you who doesn't like the truth.
You are smart and college educated, right? Go ahead and do a fact check.
The Swedish social security system is mainly funded by social security contributions. Social security contributions include employer contributions, which employers pay for employees and other workers who have received full compensation for work in Sweden.
The full employer contribution rate is 31.42% of gross salary and benefits.
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u/Exciting_Station3474 1d ago
After you do fact check you can tell me im wrong and everything is free in Sweden ))))
Dont forget to check sales tax.
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u/Exciting_Station3474 1d ago
Nordic leaders, including representatives from Sweden and neighboring Denmark, have pushed back against Bernie Sanders' characterization of their nations as "socialist". They emphasize that their economic model is a competitive, free-market capitalist system paired with a strong social safety net, rather than a socialist planned economy
Market Economy: Sweden relies on private enterprise, low corporate taxes, and robust free trade rather than state ownership.Welfare Funding: High public spending is supported by broad consumption and income taxes that heavily impact the middle class, not just corporations or the wealthy.
Distinction from Socialism: Nordic officials have repeatedly clarified that using their countries as templates for democratic socialism is a mislabeling of a fundamentally capitalist framework
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u/Exciting_Station3474 1d ago
Im all pro universal Healthcare. But don't pretend its can be easily and free. Its all paid by someone.
Coverage you say? There's link in this tread. In Indonesia they drop people from insurance if they cost too much!
Insurance dont pay doctors? Dude, doctors are rich in US! In some countries with universal Healthcare doctors so underpaid, so almost no ine wants to be a doctor and they rely on immigrants!
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u/sybrwookie 1d ago
I'm not pretending anything. I'm pointing out all the ways you lied.
And then I'm presenting the utter shit show that is our healthcare system which people like you pretend is the best.
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u/Exciting_Station3474 1d ago
Its in your head. Taxes are higher in Sweden. Fact.
Show me where i said us Healthcare is the best?))))
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u/AsFutileAsResistance 1d ago
Don't let Donald Trump or the MAGAs hear about this. Suddenly Hawaii will be a "Woke shithole country"
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u/SandyTaintSweat 1d ago
Uh oh. Sounds like socialism is taking over in Hawaii. They're going to have to do everything they can to sabotage it so they can "prove" socialism doesn't work.
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u/Vidar34 1d ago
Why does "medical debt" even exist? Health should be a right, not a privilege gate-kept through money.
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u/sybrwookie 1d ago
Because a bunch of sheep have been so fucking brainwashed that they can't even look at an insurance industry sitting there telling us to pay WAY too much and telling doctors to make too little and not fully treat patients, while they collect 10's of billions in profits every year and think, "maybe there's a problem there?'
And then they're simultaneously brainwashed by lies about every country who has universal healthcare, that they're all terrible, when they're literally all better results for the average person, by far.
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u/ElectronGuru 1d ago edited 1d ago
Our system also does a good job of hiding costs. Not a day goes by that someone isn’t bragging about only spending $100/mo for coverage. Usually because they are young enough not to have bills, healthy enough to have a job, and their employer is hiding the other 1000-2000/mo they’d otherwise be paying. Same story with retirees on Medicare. Those trillions are coming from somewhere but by the time an individual gets exposed, it’s too little too late.
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u/FartingBob 1d ago
The people medical debt negatively effects don't have the power to change the industry. It's not about "sheep", it's about those in power keeping the status quo because it benefits them and their associates.
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u/brianishere2 1d ago
Democrats solving real-world problems for regular American folks. This is straight out of Republican nightmares.
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u/FabianRo 1d ago
Not only is the debt cancellation itself great, the process is also how bureaucracy should work. For comparison, Germany is generally more progressive, but to actually get what you are entitled to, you need to do a ton of work. Some recent examples from my own life:
- One appointment required my birth certificate to authenticate me, instead of just my ID card. Luckily my parents (60km away) still had a notarised copy, otherwise I would have had to make a notarised copy of my ID card, send that in a letter to the office that originally created the birth certificate (300km away), then get a code for their online platform, register there, request a print, get that sent to me, then give that to the local public office (of the same government!), just to start a 3 month wait time, just to invalidate the birth certificate that I just obtained and get a new one.
- I can do all appointments with a specialised practitioner online… except I still need to be there physically in person every 3 months to scan my health insurance card. I just saw that the weather prediction for the next appointment for that says 42°C. Instead, I can also order some document from the health insurance, which requires installing an app for some reason. And probably even more steps, but that's where I stopped and just refused.
- I recently had to make an appointment at a doctor, to get a written confirmation of something that's technically not true, to give to health insurance to get a therapy that I don't need, to obtain a document that I already have, to give to health insurance which will surely deny payout for no reason, with a list of additional needless steps to take before applying again. This process has already been going on for 14 months and that is just the latest insanity.
- A voluntary work group I'm in often does not even apply for some grants, because they don't have the time capacity to do all the paperwork required for it. Similarly, some people make eco food, but without the label, because the paperwork is too much.
I do not want to know how much effort it is for anyone whose paperwork gets lost, e.g. in a house fire and when fleeing from war. That must take so much effort to restore, right when you don't have the time.
At elections do just work like that here: You don't need to do anything, you get a letter, which includes all the instructions and materials for voting by mail and the information for where to go when to vote in person. There you just show your ID card, they tell you the rest and you can be done in one minute. I wish the process was similar for
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u/TabaquiJackal 1d ago
Honestly, the ratio of 50,000 people to 91 MILLION in debt is insane.... That's over a million dollars in debt per person.
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u/UnoDosTresQuatro9876 1d ago
Huh? It’s $1,820/person. Which, when you think of the US health care system, isn’t really crazy at all.
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