Medical debt is crushing hospital patients in LA. Health officials may have a fix
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"The impacts of medical debt were staggering," said Shah, who used to staff a rural health clinic in India and, since 2023, has led a county initiative in LA to tackle the debt problem.

"People end up with credit card debt and then a vicious cycle of high interest rates and poverty," he said. "People forgo their prescriptions. People forgo appointments. And then you get into worse health."

Hospitals typically offer financial aid to patients with low incomes. But information about assistance is often hard for patients to get . Applying can be cumbersome. And many eligible patients never seek aid, research shows.

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