Major deal wipes out $30 billion in medical debt. Even backers say it's not enough

A significant transaction led by Undue Medical Debt will erase $30 billion in unpaid medical bills for approximately 20 million Americans. This effort, particularly benefiting residents in Texas and Florida, involves retiring patient debts averaging $1,100 each. However, this initiative, while impressive, can scarcely touch the widespread issue affecting nearly 100 million people in the U.S. As Americans accumulated an estimated $74 billion in healthcare-related loans over the past year, the deal underscores the unsustainable nature of the current healthcare financing system.

"Medical debt has unreasonable expectations—the people who owe the debts can't pay." - Allison Sesso, chief executive of Undue Medical Debt, acknowledging the sustainability issues of America's healthcare financing.

Despite the monumental debt purchase, it addresses merely a fraction of the nationwide crisis affecting around 100 million Americans struggling with medical debt.

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