Hidden Help: What Happened When Oregon Forced Hospitals to Boost Financial Aid? (From Tradeoffs)

Hey, real quick: If you value what we do, this is the best-ever time to support our work. This November, every donation gets matched three-for-one thanks to NewsMatch from the Institute for Nonprofit News. We have SO much work ahead in 2027. Donate today. Charity care — financial assistance that nonprofit hospitals are required to offer — is one of the most powerful tools we have to avoid medical debt. But for too many people, that help is hidden. The journalists at the podcast Tradeoffs teamed up with our colleagues at KFF Health News to look at what happened when a new state law in Oregon brought charity care out of the shadows, forcing hospitals to auto-enroll people who qualify. Check out the rest of Tradeoffs and KFF Health News’s series Hidden Help. Here’s a transcript of this episode. As always, please share your stories and questions. To get our best advice and updates, sign up for the First Aid Kit newsletter. And: Donations from listeners are our single biggest source of funding. We’d love for you to pitch in today. Support the show: https://armandalegshow.com/support/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.