Laura was born in Canada, a country where universal healthcare ensures that access to medical care is not determined by income, employment, or credit score. Today, at 34 years old, she is self-employed and living in Miami—and her experience with the U.S. healthcare system could not be more different. In the United States, access to care has come not as a guarantee, but as a risk—one that often arrives months later in the form of a bill.
Over the past several years, Laura has accumulated between $7,000 and $10,000 in medical bills, largely from emergency room visits triggered by severe allergic reactions to dairy, wool, and environmental irritants. In Canada, these same visits would not have carried a price tag. In the U.S., each one addressed an immediate health crisis—but left behind financial consequences that continue to follow her long after the symptoms faded.
Some of Laura’s medical bills are more than a decade old. Sold to collection agencies, they have accrued interest and damaged her credit over time. While the calls and letters from collectors have slowed since she moved and changed her phone number in 2023, the debt itself remains unresolved, lingering quietly in credit reports and financial records.
“I believe healthcare should be a basic human right,” Laura says. That belief now shapes her healthcare decisions. To avoid additional debt, she relies on herbalism, natural remedies, and a plant-based diet whenever possible. When she recently experienced an allergic reaction she attributes to dust from her air-conditioning system, she treated it herself rather than risk another costly emergency room visit.
The impact of Laura’s medical debt extends far beyond unpaid bills. Her situation is not the result of poor choices or financial mismanagement, but of a healthcare system that ties access to care to personal financial risk. Since 2020, her credit score has limited her ability to buy a car, pursue homeownership, or secure small business loans to support her work in sales, writing, and marketing. Multiple hard credit checks have further weakened her credit, reinforcing a cycle that keeps stability out of reach.
Laura compares her experience in the United States with Canada’s universal healthcare system, where care is not tied to debt or creditworthiness. She argues the U.S. needs income-based subsidies for medical care, similar to food assistance programs, so people are not forced to choose between their health and their financial future.
Laura’s story is a reminder that medical debt is not an abstract policy issue—it is a daily reality that shapes lives, limits opportunity, and discourages people from seeking care when they need it most.
In the U.S., close to 100 million people have medical debt, and most cases of bankruptcy are the result of medical debt. One essential step to limiting medical debt in Florida is for the state to expand Medicaid. Florida is one of just 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid. To learn more, see here.
Laura was born in Canada, a country where universal healthcare ensures that access to medical care is not determined by income, employment, or credit score. Today, at 34 years old, she is self-employed and living in Miami—and her experience with the U.S. healthcare system could not be more different. In the United States, access to care has come not as a guarantee, but as a risk—one that often arrives months later in the form of a bill.
Over the past several years, Laura has accumulated between $7,000 and $10,000 in medical bills, largely from emergency room visits triggered by severe allergic reactions to dairy, wool, and environmental irritants. In Canada, these same visits would not have carried a price tag. In the U.S., each one addressed an immediate health crisis—but left behind financial consequences that continue to follow her long after the symptoms faded.
Some of Laura’s medical bills are more than a decade old. Sold to collection agencies, they have accrued interest and damaged her credit over time. While the calls and letters from collectors have slowed since she moved and changed her phone number in 2023, the debt itself remains unresolved, lingering quietly in credit reports and financial records.
“I believe healthcare should be a basic human right,” Laura says. That belief now shapes her healthcare decisions. To avoid additional debt, she relies on herbalism, natural remedies, and a plant-based diet whenever possible. When she recently experienced an allergic reaction she attributes to dust from her air-conditioning system, she treated it herself rather than risk another costly emergency room visit.
The impact of Laura’s medical debt extends far beyond unpaid bills. Her situation is not the result of poor choices or financial mismanagement, but of a healthcare system that ties access to care to personal financial risk. Since 2020, her credit score has limited her ability to buy a car, pursue homeownership, or secure small business loans to support her work in sales, writing, and marketing. Multiple hard credit checks have further weakened her credit, reinforcing a cycle that keeps stability out of reach.
Laura compares her experience in the United States with Canada’s universal healthcare system, where care is not tied to debt or creditworthiness. She argues the U.S. needs income-based subsidies for medical care, similar to food assistance programs, so people are not forced to choose between their health and their financial future.
Laura’s story is a reminder that medical debt is not an abstract policy issue—it is a daily reality that shapes lives, limits opportunity, and discourages people from seeking care when they need it most.
In the U.S., close to 100 million people have medical debt, and most cases of bankruptcy are the result of medical debt. One essential step to limiting medical debt in Florida is for the state to expand Medicaid. Florida is one of just 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid. To learn more, see here.
Stock Photo
