Medical debt is crushing hospital patients in LA. Health officials may have a fix
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Today, Shah and his colleagues are applying the same principle to medical debt. A key part of that effort is a new system to allow every hospital in LA County to easily screen patients for financial aid. The goal: to stop low-income families from getting a bill that buries them in debt.

Shah estimates this system could prevent several hundred million dollars of medical debt every year.

Vicious cycle

In the U.S., an estimated 100 million adults have some form of healthcare debt. In LA County, the nation's most populous, public health officials calculate that about 800,000 residents have medical bills they can't pay.

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