‘No one should have to go through this’

Some lost their homes. Some emptied their retirement accounts. Some struggled to feed and clothe their families. ¶ Medical debt now touches more than 100 million Americans, as the U.S. healthcare system pushes patients into debt on a mass scale. ¶ Debtors come from all walks of life and all corners of the country. Here are two stories.

The premature birth of twins

Allyson Ward, 43, Chicago Approximate medical debt: $80,000 Medical issue: Childbirth

What happened: There were times after her sons were born 10 years ago when Allyson Ward wondered whether she and her family would lose their home.

On some days, she would tick through a list of friends and family, considering who could take them in. “We had a plan that we were not going to be homeless,” Ward recalled.

Ward is a nurse practitioner who works at a neonatal intensive care unit in Chicago. Her husband, Marcus, runs a small nonprofit.

The couple’s twins, Milo and Theo, were born 10 weeks prematurely and were were diagnosed with cerebral palsy. One required multiple surgeries to fix a breathing disorder. The babies spent more than three months in a NICU.

Ward and her husband scrambled to get the boys the care they needed, including years of physical and occupational therapy.

Their health plan denied thousands of dollars in claims for therapies, deeming some unnecessary.

What’s broken: Ward and her husband had health insurance through her employer in Texas.

But that’s often not enough to protect patients from a major medical event. Most Americans who have medical debt had coverage, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

Even with health insurance, childbirth can be very expensive. One in 8 Americans who have healthcare debt say it was at least partially caused by pregnancy and childbirth.

What’s left: Ward and her husband have been slowly paying down the debt.

They bought a small house in Chicago in 2016. And Milo and Theo have been able to stay on grade level at school.

Although cerebral palsy can be severely disabling, the boys can run, ride bikes and go rock climbing, which Ward credits to the many therapists who have worked with them.

Ten years later, though, the family is still paying off nearly $10,000 in medical debt on their credit cards.

Ward said sometimes at work she looks sadly at new parents in the NICU, thinking about their financial strains ahead. “They have no idea,” she said.

Complications from a surgery

Sherrie Foy, 63, Moneta, Va. Approximate medical debt: $850,000 Medical issue: Colon surgery

What happened: Sherrie and Michael Foy thought they’d made all the right preparations when they moved to rural southwestern Virginia after Michael retired from Consolidated Edison, New York’s largest utility.

The couple had diligently saved. And they had retiree health insurance through Con Edison.

“We were never rich,” Sherrie said. “But we had what we wanted.”

Then in 2016, Sherrie, who had lived for years with persistent bowel irritation, had her colon removed. After the surgery, she contracted an infection and barely survived.

The complications produced nearly $800,000 in bills from the University of Virginia Health System for services that weren’t covered by the Foys’ health insurance.

When the couple couldn’t pay, the state sued. The only way past it, the Foys concluded, was to declare bankruptcy.

What’s broken: Foy fell victim to a gap in her husband’s retiree health insurance plan that capped lifetime coverage at $1 million.

Relatively few patients with medical debt are sued, and some medical centers have been forced to scale back the practice in recent years after news reports about the lawsuits.

But hospitals and other medical providers still rely on the courts to collect from patients.

What’s left: Sherrie’s health has improved. After the complications in Virginia, she returned to New York to seek care at a hospital she said saved her life. That hospital never billed her. She doesn’t know why, but she believes she may have qualified for charity care.

The Foys get by on Michael’s pension and their Social Security checks.

The same year they declared bankruptcy, Michael had a heart attack and their daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“It was a disaster of a year,” Sherrie said. “No one should have to go through this.”

Sherrie has no health insurance. She hopes there won’t be more major medical bills before she turns 65 and qualifies for Medicare.