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Tennessee Study Finds Medical Debt Is Surprisingly Common

Chronic diseases, which are more prevalent in Tennessee, also tend to lead to more medical debt, according to recent studies.
Blake Farmer
/
WPLN
Chronic diseases, which are more prevalent in Tennessee, also tend to lead to more medical debt, according to recent studies.

Hear the radio version of this story.

Tennesseans shoulder more medical debt than the rest of the country, and the heaviest burden is where there are high rates of uninsured people, according to the latest in a series of reports from the Sycamore Institute.

The public policy think tank has been quantifying medical debt in the state. The organization's latest research finds a big overlap with the prevalence of payday lenders in a community and other types of outstanding debt.

But policy director Mandy Pellegrin says nearly every community feels the load.

"Really, the thing that we found that was most surprising is that medical debt is surprisingly common in Tennessee," she says.

Even in the wealthiest part of the state, Williamson County, one in 10 residents has outstanding medical debt on their credit report.

Maury County is closer to the statewide average of one in four. Last year, county resident Jessica Davis delivered her third child prematurely at Centennial Medical Center, where they spent six weeks.

"I saw how quickly the bills were just piling up," she says. "And it's scary."

Her family has a high deductible insurance policy and paid half the bill but is struggling with the rest.

"Here we are with ten thousand more dollars, and it's just a lot," Davis says. "We're a regular middle class family that works hard for everything we have."

The Sycamore Institute concludes that a variety of factors have led to Tennessee's elevated rate of medical debt. But a primary driver is the high uninsured rate, which has been rising partly because the state has refused to expand Medicaid.

Copyright 2019 WPLN News

Blake Farmer
Blake Farmer is WPLN's assistant news director, but he wears many hats - reporter, editor and host. He covers the Tennessee state capitol while also keeping an eye on Fort Campbell and business trends, frequently contributing to national programs. Born in Tennessee and educated in Texas, Blake has called Nashville home for most of his life.