[sirtimbly]

I hate the way the health-care system works and how it's affected me and those close to me. I spent much of my adult life paying off medical debt exactly like they describe. Defrayed by parents somewhat, but still a significant burden for many years. On one hand, we have debt and bankruptcy as a tool to help individuals deal with costs that would be impossible to save up for. On the other hand, this quote from the article rings true:

> “We have a health care system almost perfectly designed to create debt.”

This was true before the ACA – and is still true.

[bombcar]

The entirety of the US economy is tuned to create debt; healthcare is just one example of it.

[jjoonathan]

Well, yeah -- once you've squeeezed all the money out of poor people, how else are you supposed to squeeze even harder?

[bombcar]

As implied in another comment, the real solution is one people don't want to consider - forbid people from taking debt on in certain circumstances.

But this immediately appears as "unfair" even if predatory lending is a huge problem.

Meanwhile those who already have some money wouldn't be affected by it much, for example, a law requiring all credit cards that charge interest on balances to be secured ones (where if you have a $1k credit line you must have $1k cash/cash equivalent in the bank).

[sirtimbly]

Yes. Debt is the entire story of the American economy, from top to bottom, it's not inherently evil. It's useful for creating new wealth. But of course it gets misused also.

[defterGoose]

I don't think anyone is arguing that debt can't be another tool in the toolbox, but when you consider that the debt/equity ratio has risen considerably since the second half of the 20th century, you start to get the sense that this is somewhat "centrally" planned.

[stjohnswarts]

All the ACA did was help some poorer people with insurance, prevent denying accessibility to insurance, and help with "kids" up to 26 with insurance.