Fighting Medical Debt Masterclass!

Presenter

Faith C. Nwafor

Group Members

Matthew Mejail

Campus

UMass Amherst

Sponsor

Deborah Keisch, Department of Civic Engagement & Service-Learning, UMass Amherst

Schedule

Session 5, 3:30 PM - 4:15 PM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board C6, Poster Showcase Room (163), Row 1 (C1-C10) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

Medical Debt is a burden on many Americans today. America is one of the few countries that does not believe healthcare is a right and that people are responsible for their health care needs. We can not live without the need for health care in any part of the world. The Right Care Alliance (RCA) is a grassroots coalition of clinicians, patients, and community members organizing to make health care institutions accountable to communities and put patients, not profits, at the heart of health care. The importance of having health insurance is vital in adulthood. As college students, we tend to ignore these very important details because we’re so used to being dependent on our parents. Not having health insurance or not being aware of the predatory tactics of our broken medical systems could cost it could cost thousands of dollars of debt. We will share what we’ve learned from various stories, protesting, and research on how to combat this flawed system. Through our masterclass we will educate people on ways to advocate for themselves. There are many policies put in place that allows for people to do this and could save many thousands of dollars. The earlier we learn to combat medical debt, the earlier we set ourselves up for success in the future. We hope to educate students on different policies and acts in place to help them fight medical debt and ultimately improve their knowledge of the health care system. 

Keywords

Medical Debt, Health Care, Policy

Research Area

Public Health and Epidemiology

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