Health Insurance Doesn’t Protect Older Adults from Medical Debt
Q2: Panel: Health Insurance Doesn’t Protect Older Adults from Medical Debt
Why do older adults with two or more health insurance policies have more unpaid medical bills than those with Medicare only? Census data and consumer complaints suggest that balance billing is a significant contributor to medical debt among older adults. When those bills are improper - and they often are - consumers must shoulder the financial consequences even though it's the responsibility of providers, billers, and insurers to resolve underlying billing issues. Find out how to spot these issues and help clients get relief from invalid medical debt. Backup: Nursing home debt collection.
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe balance billing and who it affects.
- Help older adults identify wrongful billing, report and resolve it.
- Discuss nursing home debt collection and help caregivers and older adults identify problematic nursing home debt collection tactics, report illegal practices, and seek assistance.
Jackie Thomas (Moderator)
Senior Content Strategist
National Council on Aging
As the Team Lead for Digital Content Strategy at NCOA, Jackie Thomas plans, executes, and oversees a multi-channel content strategy, empowering the organization's audiences by connecting them to relevant, life-changing resources and tools on NCOA’s websites, including ncoa.org and benefitscheckup.org. Passionate about making an impact and helping people find the right information to help them age well, Thomas brings the organization's mission of improving the lives of millions of older adults to life through a proactive story-telling approach. Interested in contributing as a guest writer? Let her know!
Beverly Yang JD
Older Americans Policy Analyst
CFPB Office for Older Americans
As an Older Americans Policy Analyst at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Beverly specializes in debt collection, helping older adults make critical financial decisions after the death of a spouse, and financing long-term services and supports. Beverly spent seven years practicing consumer and housing law as a legal aid attorney before joining the Bureau in 2013. She received a J.D. from Washington University School of Law and a B.A. from the State University of New York.
Katelyn Kramer
Policy Analyst
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Kate Kramer is a Policy Analyst with the Office for Older Americans at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Ms. Kramer’s work focuses on age-friendly banking, financial technology, fraud and scams, protecting residents of assisted living and nursing facilities, and elder fraud prevention and response networks. Before joining the CFPB, Ms. Kramer was the Project Director of the Elder Rights Center at the Area Agency on Aging of Palm Beach/Treasure Coast, where she conducted community outreach and education and worked with older adults who had experienced financial exploitation, fraud, scams, identity theft, and other crimes to help them recover and develop safeguards to prevent further victimization. Previously, she worked as a legal services attorney with a focus on family law, guardianship law, bankruptcy, and consumer law. Ms. Kramer holds a J.D. from Boston University School of Law and a B.A. in English Literature and Journalism from the University of Tulsa.
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