It's an entire industry based on fraud and deception. My wife recently had surgery and we got hit with a $1500 surprise facility fee. It likely won't be covered by insurance due to some fuckery around not reimbursing the fee if the in plan physician owns the facility.

We knew enough to ask about the anesthesiologist and any surgery assistants. But they came up with some new bullshit and got us. When the world gets wise to this nonsense they'll come up with something else. It's a business deeply rooted and based on scamming their customers.

And 70m of the population is 18 and under. So apparently the percentage of people with medical debt who are over 18 is quite substantial. Didn't realize it was so significant myself.

I don't see why this is a bad number. It is easy to get on a 0% payment plan for medical procedures, or to contest a medical bill that is "a debt" that will get paid eventually.