On October 1st of this year, I was invited to attend the White House Event on Medical Debt with members of the Center for Popular Democracy. The enormity of this invitation was not lost on me and I felt honored to represent Rights and Democracy and patients. Given the uniqueness of the situation, I’ve decided to write an explanation so I can bring you along with me to this event and share as much detail as possible.
Upon arriving at the 17th Street Northwest and State Place entrance with the famous black wrought iron gates in front of me I approached the first guard Outpost. At this first checkpoint you present your identification. I had already filled out a form enabling the system to check me out and put me on the list along with a picture of me so they know who to look for. I was given a green badge that is scanned in and it shows that I have an appointment to be there. Next, we were each brought into the next room where your items are scanned through an x-ray machine and you go through a metal detector and check you out making sure you don’t have anything that isn’t allowed into the White House complex. From there, you go up a winding concrete ramp to the next checkpoint.
Entering past this next section I was met by staff who directed us to the Indian treaty room. The Indian Treaty Room was built in 1879 and is an amazing room to be in. On the floor are tiles, the kind of tiles that you would expect to see in a Mediterranean-style kitchen perhaps. Just incredible to look at and amazing to walk on. The entire room is loaded with beautiful black ironwork all along the perimeter of the above balcony area. as well as decorating other areas of the room. There was a stage at the front of the room along with an electronic screen bearing the White House logo. Each of us in the room took turns taking pictures near this screen and admiring the beauty of the room we were in.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra entered the room and I was immediately taken by his smile and presence. I was struck by how concerned he was for the patients who joined him on stage to talk about the medical debt that they had endured.
One Man story in particular truly got to me and made it difficult for me to hold back my tears. I think that I was touched by him in a way because he reminded me of my dad being somebody who worked hard all their lives to save up money and I could see how this man’s situation could happen to my own. In short, he had suffered burns over 66% of his body and went through an enormous amount of life-saving treatment leaving him with an exorbitant amount of medical bills. Many of these ended up on his credit report and made it difficult for him to be able to get a car to even continue his treatments.
Director Chopra moderated the discussion between the patients and himself talking about the different aspects of medical debt and how it affected their lives. It was a great opening to what turned into a wonderful announcement that I’m sure everyone who reads this will be delighted to hear. In addition, the CFPB also published a consumer advisory and I will include that link here so we can disseminate it and ensure that consumers are aware of the rights that they have under the law.
The CFPB is actively going after non-profit hospitals who failed to provide Financial assistance. I have to be honest in saying that I was surprised to learn that the financial assistance that’s offered also known as “free care” by local hospitals is not something they’re doing out of the kindness of their hearts but under the pains and penalty of law. They are required to offer this care to people who meet certain financial guidelines in exchange for their nonprofit status and the money that they received from the federal government. I honestly always thought it was just something that they did. I never thought it was a mandate but I’m not surprised that it is.
Finally and most importantly it was announced that it will now be illegal to put medical bills on people’s Credit reports even by third parties. This is long overdue and I’m sure that all of you join me in a large sigh of relief that we know that’s going to provide people. If I refer back to the man I mentioned earlier, he had 780 credit before he was burned in a horrible fire. He went through all of his savings covering his own care and made every effort to pay every Medical bill. Despite his best efforts And attempting to pay over $86,000 in medical bills he ended up with things on his credit report that trashed his standing and ruined his ability to qualify for any credit.
His Medical required him to travel long miles to continue treatment and that ruined the car that they had. When they tried to buy another car to replace it and continue treatment his credit now ruined by medical bills, he couldn’t qualify to even buy a used car.
When the event was over I had the opportunity to approach director Chopra and have a good conversation with him. I can’t tell you how taken I was by his personableness and in our discussion I told him about my situation and having CRPS as a result of having cancer. He told me he had cancer too.
I was able to tell him about the situation that many are in who have ketamine infusion treatments and face serious illnesses like CRPS, small fiber neuropathy, and a host of others. I told him that some people including veterans are getting care covered and others are not, but almost all are facing having to pay cash up front or get no access to treatment. Health insurance companies keep a clause in their contract that enables doctors to be able to charge cash to even Medicare patients or refuse treatment. He seemed very interested in this and I was given his assistance name, email address, phone number, and introduced to her before I left the room.
Subsequently, I followed up by emailing him a basic of what we face and a copy of the clause that the doctor’s office gave me stating that’s what gives them the ability to be able to charge cash and refuse to take health insurance even with a prior authorization in place.
I have a lot of hope that maybe just maybe we can get ketamine infusions covered by insurance companies and doctors forbidden from avoiding billing insurance companies thereby opening up treatment to far more people who just don’t have cash to put up front. I told him I sold everything I own and lost everything else. I did make sure to not take up too much of his time as there were plenty of other people that were hoping to get to speak to him as well. By the time I was done speaking with him I was almost in tears and he gave me one of the best hugs I’ve ever had. To get a hug from somebody as important and as high up as him was surreal. I really felt heard and seen. Gaining a relationship with his office made this a real win for us all. I can’t tell you what that feels like but I hope I’ve been able to convey to you what occurred, and I hope I’ve done you proud and represented you well. Feel free to message me with any questions.
I will leave you with what the door of the Secret Service Uniformed Division Operations Cleark door looks like, lol. It seems fitting with Halloween around the corner.
All the best,
Jenn
Jenn Coffey
RAD Storyteller – National Healthcare Advocate
Medical Debt Convening in it’s entirety.