How Ohio lawmakers seek to address medical debt

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Medical debt is the number one reason that people in the United States file for bankruptcy, and for many, like cancer survivor Olivia Hiltbrand, medical bills hit at the most unexpected times.
'I was unprepared for anything like that to happen,' she said. 'I went through chemotherapy, brain radiation, all kinds of medications, pills, just anything you can think of for those three years.'
Hiltbrand said she got diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma in 2020, when she was 31 years old. She said she was otherwise healthy, so this came as a shock. Still, she and her husband had insurance, full-time jobs and health savings accounts.
Suspect before deputy fatally shot: 'You better … go if you want your family to see you'
'Essentially, we were doing what we thought responsible adults who had income could do,' Hiltbrand said.
At the start of her treatment, Hiltbrand said she had a three-week hospital stay. After that, she got a bill for her insurance for $200,000.
'Sticker shock would be a good way to put it,' she said. 'The cost of the treatment was incomprehensible. I didn't understand how it could cost that much just to keep me alive.'
Hiltbrand said that when she was not going through chemotherapy, she was on the phone, making sure she had proper payment plans lined up. She said she still owes about $7,000, two years after being cancer-free. Even through that, Hiltbrand said she considers herself one of the lucky ones because her hospitals do not charge interest on her bills.
Ohio lawmakers introduce bill that would allow counties to test gas station fuel quality
'It would've been incredibly stressful to me, even more than it already was, to have interest piling up on these bills that I already couldn't pay,' she said.
Now, a new bill, known as the Medical Debt Fairness Act, could help alleviate some of that burden.
If passed, the bill would do three things:
Cap interest rates on medical debt at 3%,
Prohibit reporting medical debt to credit agencies,
And ban wage garnishment for medical debt.
'This policy overreaches and so the consequence, it could harm some of the very people it's trying to help,' Vice President of Policy at the Buckeye Institute, a conservative-leaning think-tank, Rea Hederman said.
Hederman said the bill could result in higher prices for everyone else if interest rates on medical bills are so low that Ohioans feel they can move those payments to the back of the line.
City of Columbus asks court to dismiss cyber lawsuits
'You could see co-payments going up, your deductibles going up as companies and healthcare providers don't want to put themselves at financial risk for providing bad debt,' Hederman said.
He said this will also open the door for people who can't afford it to get new loans.
'If you don't know if somebody has a large package of debt on their bills, then other areas of financing, from houses to car loans, may become less transparent, so people could be at greater risk of bankruptcy or default,' Hederman said.
Hederman added that if providers cannot go after someone's income in order to recuperate costs, then it may have to become more extreme.
'A lot of times, where are you going to be looking? To repossess a car, trying to go to a court case to find out other assets they may have,' Hederman said. 'That's going to make it a lot more expensive to make these loans.'
Arrested escapee from Columbus security facility issued bond in court
Overall, Hederman agreed that something needs to be done, but said this is bad policy for the state.
'At the end of the day, the question can be, 'How can we make healthcare more affordable for a lot of these people?'' he said.
'You shouldn't have to be fighting for your life and also dealing with the effects of this debt,' Hiltbrand said.
As far as hospitals go, two answered a request for their stance on it.
The Cleveland Clinic said it has not taken a position 'since it doesn't impact our operations.'
Ohio bill would make Superman the state's official superhero, but not until 2033
'Cleveland Clinic offers financial assistance to patients who qualify,' a spokesperson wrote. 'If a patient does not qualify, we offer no-cost payment plans for up to four years. We do not garnish patients' wages, place liens on patients' homes, or report debt to credit agencies.'
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center said it is reviewing the bill and directed comments to the Central Ohio Hospital Association and the Ohio Hospital Association.
The bill did just have its first hearing, but sponsors said they have talked with leadership and are confident the bill will gain traction. Nearly one-third of Ohio House members, both Republicans and Democrats, are signed on in support.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

a day ago

• Yahoo

What is the Prenatal Equal Protection Act? New bill would effectively ban abortion in Ohio

(WJW) — On Wednesday, Republican State Reps. Levi Dean and Johnathan Newman are set to introduce a controversial new bill at the Ohio Statehouse that would ban abortion in the Buckeye State. The legislation is called the Prenatal Equal Protection Act, and it aims to extend full legal rights to fetuses from the moment of fertilization. Bagworm outbreak threat growing in Ohio, OSU warns 'We are trying to create a constitutional debate in which we believe the state's constitution would be superseded by the U.S. Constitution,' said pro-life activist Austin Beigel, who helped craft the bill. Beigel, a member of End Abortion Ohio, said the legislation is about ensuring what he sees as equal protection for all life — born or unborn. 'To simply say this is a person in the womb, out of the womb — we know they are human. We believe all people deserve legal protection under the law,' he said. Supporters of the bill argue it is not about politics, but about morality. 'It is not going to permit the killing of innocent human beings, innocent people,' Beigel added. But opponents said the bill defies the will of Ohio voters, who passed a constitutional amendment in 2023 explicitly protecting access to abortion. 'I mean, we knew on Nov. 7, 2023, that there would be plans to undermine the will of the Ohio voter,' said Jordyn Close, deputy director of the Ohio Women's Alliance. Close said she first learned of the proposed legislation last week and was troubled by what she found. 'This bill does not account for any special circumstances. It does not account for any real-life realities for Ohioans who need abortion care,' she said. Baby delivered from brain-dead woman on life support in Georgia The bill argues that Ohio's constitutional amendment legalizing abortion should be considered invalid, claiming it violates the U.S. Constitution's equal-protection clause. But Close believes that argument won't hold up in court. 'Our fantastic legal team and legal scholars will be able to defeat this,' she said. Supporters of the legislation are expected to hold a rally inside the Statehouse from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday as the bill is officially filed. Whether the bill gains traction in the legislature remains to be seen, but the fight over abortion rights in Ohio appears far from over. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

4 days ago

Ohio lawmakers to introduce bill banning abortion, criminalizing the procedure

Republican lawmakers in Ohio are planning on introducing a bill on Wednesday that would ban almost all abortions and criminalize the procedure. The " Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act" would overturn the amendment to the Ohio constitution, voted on in 2023, that establishes "an individual right to one's own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion" before viability. Reproductive medical treatment includes contraception, fertility treatments and miscarriage care. Abortions are currently allowed up to 20 weeks since fertilization, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that studies sexual and reproductive rights. "[It] is a very, very simple and beautiful piece of legislation in that all it does is identify all human beings as persons deserving equal protection of the law, both born humans and pre-born humans," anti-abortion advocate Austin Beigel, with End Abortion Ohio, told ABC News. "So, it identifies those personhood rights starting at the moment of fertilization, when the new distinct organism is formed, the new human life that being that person now has equal protection under the law." Kellie Copeland, executive director of Abortion Forward, which helped pass the 2023 amendment in Ohio, said the bill goes against the will of voters. "This is the most extreme and anti-life legislation that you can imagine," she told ABC News. "It would strip Ohioans of their constitutionally guaranteed right to bodily autonomy, and that's the goal of this legislation." When Beigel was asked if he was concerned that the bill may go against the will of the voters, he said he was not because "the will of the voters was evil." "In many times in our country's history, the majority of people have desired evil things. We have discriminated horribly against the Black man and woman, and people wanted that," he continued. "So, I have no qualms about saying I oppose the majority of the will of the people when the people desire something that is evil." Copeland replied that "subjecting people to the loss of bodily autonomy, taking basic human rights away from Ohioans is the real evil that we're talking about here." Beigel said he has been working with Republican state Reps. Levi Dean and Jonathan Newman on the bill, which uses the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause -- part of the Fourteenth Amendment -- to override Ohio's constitutional amendment. Beigel said the co-sponsors will be announced on Wednesday. Dean's and Newman's offices did not immediately return ABC News' request for comment. The bill would ban abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. The only exceptions would be for a spontaneous miscarriage or to save the life of the pregnant woman. The bill would also criminalize those who have abortions, not just the providers who perform the procedure. Copeland she is worried the bill could lead to attacks on people who support abortion rights or who underwent abortions. "When people equate reproductive health care with murder, that kind of rhetoric invites violence," Copeland said. "It invites violence that we have seen at abortion clinics that we have seen perpetrated against abortion providers." Beigel said the bill does not outlaw contraception and is not designed to outlaw in-vitro fertilization (IVF). However, he did say that IVF may not be able to function the way that it does now if the bill is passed because it would apply equal protection to "pre-born humans." "The courts are going to have to debate the implications of this," he said. "Is it actually moral to freeze a young human being in a cryochamber and preserve them at the age they are and not let them grow?" Ohio's history of abortion bills In 2019, Ohio lawmakers passed a so-called heartbeat bill that bans abortions after cardiac activity can be detected, which occurs as early as six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. It was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine. The ban had no exceptions for rape or incest. The only exceptions were cases of ectopic pregnancies and to prevent the mother's death or impairment of a major bodily function. A federal judge blocked the ban in 2019, but it was reinstated just hours after the Supreme Court decision to overrule Roe v. Wade. In September 2022, an Ohio lower court granted a temporary restraining order before granting a preliminary injunction a few weeks later. In December 2023, the state's Supreme Court dismissed the state's appeal and sent the case back to the lower courts. In November 2023, 57% of voters approved the passing of the amendment, adding abortion protections to the state constitution. Much of the six-week ban was rendered unconstitutional after the amendment went into effect in December 2023, Ohio's Attorney General Dave Yost said earlier this year. However, some lawmakers have tried to maintain other parts of the ban, including reporting requirements and a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion can be administered. An Ohio judge in August 2024.

Yahoo

5 days ago

• Yahoo

Progress made one year since SAFER program launched in Worthington

WORTHINGTON, Ohio (WCMH) — It's been one year since Worthington's Division of Fire and EMS started a new program called SAFER. It stands for Social Assistance for Emergency Reduction. A small number of residents can often represent a large number of repeated emergency calls. The department said many of those calls could be prevented if residents got connected to needed services. 'So it was pretty obvious that a social worker would be a good link where the social worker could link the resident or the patient with the resources that are out there that we don't know about,' Assistant Chief of EMS and Community Risk Reduction in Worthington Jennifer Cochran said. That human link is Nate Hall, who specializes in connecting at-risk residents with community resources at no cost. Five-story apartment building nears construction in Franklinton 'We'll go out a lot of times after EMS or police interactions and speak with residents, kind of find out what the emergency is, what's going on, and how we can help and prevent future emergencies,' Hall said. He said one of the most common calls the department receives is for falls. Previously, crews could only help that person up and offer a ride to the hospital. Now, Hall is there to do follow-ups and prevent these emergencies from happening again. 'We can go out and look at ways to keep their home safe. Things like grab bars, medical equipment, and bringing in resources. We can get ERS devices, the buttons they press if they fall,' he said. Cochran said after a year of the program, it is already paying off. 'Connecting them to those resources naturally decreased the 911 calls,' she said. Hall typically does visits following 911 calls but he said you can also contact the program at safer@ Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.