Webinar: Medical Debt Update: Is Reform Moving Forward or Backward?

Wednesday, May 14, 2025
1:00p.m. Eastern/10:00 a.m. Pacific - 90-minutes

Overview

Medical debt has been a growing problem in the U.S. for years. As of 2023, it is estimated that Americans owe some $200 billion in medical bills, and 41% of Americans have medical debt. The debt trend has been exacerbated by medical inflation that has mostly been higher than consumer inflation, as well as health plans and employer groups cost-shifting to enrollees.

There have been some policy changes to address this issue. States such as Colorado and California have made it illegal to place medical debt on credit reports. Numerous non-profit organizations have also been buying up millions in medical debt for pennies on the dollar and retiring it. And the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently issued new national rules about reporting of medical debt, although those rules are currently on hold pending litigation.

Those changes suggest that lawmakers and policymakers are cognizant of medical debt, but that change has been incremental at best. And with the Trump administration seemingly focused on cutting funding to insurance programs such as Medicaid and the state and federal health exchanges – as well as curbing the power of the CFPB – the future of medical debt reform remains unclear.

Join us on Wednesday, May 14 for a webinar that will examine the issue, “Medical Debt Update: Is Reform Moving Forward or Backward?”

This 90-minute event features Luke Messac, M.D., PhD., Emergency Medicine Physician and Author; Erin L. Duffy, Scholar at the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service, Research Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California; and Michael Karpman, Principal Research Associate, the Urban Institute.

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Learning Objectives

• How medical debt has trended in recent years
• What state and federal laws and regulations have been created to address the issue
• What the private sector has done to address the issue
• Which proposals have been suggested but not yet enacted
• What the future may bring

Potential Audience

• Health Plan Executives
• Hospital Executives
• Non-Profit Executives
• Healthcare Academics and Researchers
• Physicians and Physician Executives
• Public Policy Leaders
• Patients and Consumers

Faculty

Luke Messac, M.D., PhD., Emergency Medicine Physician and Author

Luke Messac, M.D., PhD., is an attending emergency at Brigham & Women’s hospital, and an instructor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also an historian focused on the political economy of healthcare, as well as on diagnostics for emergency care in resource-limited settings.

Messac’s most recent book, Your Money or Your Life (Oxford University Press, 2023), is a history of medical debt collection in the United States. It tells the story of how the collection of medical debt in the United States has transformed over the last several decades, and the impact this is having on Americans’ lives. 

Messac received his medical and doctorate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his residency in emergency medicine at Brown/Rhode Island Hospital. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

Erin L. Duffy, Scholar at the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service, Research Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California

Erin is a research assistant professor of health policy and management at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, Director of Research Training at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, and Scholar at the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service.

Duffy is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed articles, reports, and commentaries, and her research has been published in leading medical and health policy journals. Her work has been cited in publications by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and has been featured in the New York Times, National Public Radio, and other media.

Her research explores cost-drivers, market failures, and patients’ financial liability in the American healthcare system. Duffy’s current work explores how uninsured and underinsured patients navigate “shopping” for healthcare services and receiving medical bills. Her past work measured the prevalence and magnitude of surprise medical bills, and she continues to evaluate the impacts of federal and state policies that ban surprise medical bills. She has also conducted qualitative and quantitative research on health systems’ performance, healthcare provider payment, and socioeconomic and racial disparities in health outcomes.

Duffy earned a doctorate degree in policy analysis from Pardee RAND Graduate School, a master’s in public health in biostatistics and epidemiology from Boston University, and a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College. She completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the USC Schaeffer Center.

Michael Karpman, Principal Research Associate, the Urban Institute

Michael is a principal research associate in the Health Policy Division at the Urban Institute. His work focuses on quantitative analysis related to health insurance coverage, health care access and affordability, medical debt, health service use and spending, social determinants of health, and federal and state safety net programs. This work includes overseeing data collection and analysis for the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey. 

Before joining Urban in 2013, he was a senior associate at the National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families. Karpman received his master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University.

Registration Details

• Live Webinar: $249
• Webinar Recording: $249
• Live Webinar and video Recording: $349 for attendees

For Corporate Site licensing information please email adamg@mcol.com. We look forward to your attendance!

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Cure for the Common Webinar

In addition to the main presentation, this webinar will include a moderated audience Q&A. Within one business day of your registration, you'll receive login information. You will receive reminder emails 1 day and 1 hour before the live event.

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