'We are each other’s shelter': Why canceling medical debt matters in Florida

Floridians are being crushed by the soaring cost of living. Our energy bills are some of the most expensive in the nation, while our housing prices continue to grow year over year. Florida ranks in the top half of the U.S. for income inequality, which means that the rich are even richer and the poor even poorer in the Sunshine State.

Florida ranks fourth in the nation for healthcare costs, and one in four non-elderly Floridians have medical debt. I am one of them.

Medical debt impacts all areas of my life. I have to choose between paying my energy bills or ignoring past-due medical payments. I haven’t taken my cardiac medicine in weeks because I need to put food on the table for my children. I moved here from Ireland, which was emerging from the aftermath of a time of great oppression, with the hope that the United States would provide opportunities for work, freedom and maybe even some ease for myself and my family. The huge optimism and drive of Americans is what attracted us, like many immigrants before us. However, in recent years, I’ve felt crippled by the injustices my family experienced and the neglect of our state and federal government.

Knowing I have debt makes me much less likely to seek care, which means that small health ailments often go ignored until they turn into much bigger, more costly chronic issues. People with medical debt often face debt in other areas of their lives. Among individuals reporting medical debt in the past year, 56% said they have credit card debt, 33% reported owing student loans, and 35% said they were unable to afford basic necessities such as food, heat and housing, according to a 2016 report from independent policy research organization KFF.

I know the feeling. Too many of us do.

I’m Irish, which means I speak my mind. I speak up when I witness injustices — not just for myself but for the good of my community. Fed up with the increasingly insurmountable medical debt my family was accruing, I organized with Central Florida Jobs with Justice and a group of community members to demand that Orange County relieve millions of medical debt for its residents.

The county had more than $23 million in uncommitted American Rescue Plan Act funds, with over $8.7 million eligible for debt forgiveness. In response to our organizing and pressure on the commission, we were able to get them to commit $4.5 million in ARPA funds, which will clear upward of 100,000 eligible residents (i.e., those over 400% of federal poverty guidelines) of their medical debt. While this is a huge relief for these community members, it’s not enough. The county will have to pick and choose who is the most in need of these funds, and because my family is on the higher end of the federal poverty qualifications, we likely won’t be part of debt relief. However, the county commission can clear medical debt for triple that number of Orange County residents, myself and my family included, by pledging the remaining funds.

When I think of a life without medical debt, I don’t think of buying a fancy car or going out to a nice restaurant. I think about the people who have swiped their card for me at the grocery store when my transaction was declined, and I think about paying it forward. I think about how much more present I could be for all the beauty and goodness this life has to offer if my mind weren’t constantly ravaged with worry about my house being foreclosed. Medical debt has prevented me from visiting my family for far too long; I think about going back to Ireland to see my dying dad one last time, to let him know that I’m still carrying on his fighting spirit, and that his tenacity is being carried through to future generations.

Floridians should have the freedom to pay for the care they need and put food on the table for their families. Working people deserve the right to provide for their families and take care of their health and security. Orange County has the opportunity to forgive medical debt for nearly 200,000 community members if it pledges the remaining $4.2 million to medical debt erasure.

In Ireland, there’s a proverb: Under the shelter of each other, people survive (Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine). It is the core of my belief system around community and equity, because when we do more for others — it uplifts us all. Urge your commissioners to invest in the health, well-being and financial security of community members by investing the remaining ARPA funds in its community.

Eimear Roy is a community leader and volunteer with Central Florida Jobs with Justice.

Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed