0:01

The no choice kind of debt

0:03

that's a leading driver of personal

0:05

bankruptcy. I'm Dave or Brancaccio a

0:07

New York First, The effects on

0:09

supply chains, yes, but also the

0:11

effects on the jobs and livelihoods

0:13

for people who work at the

0:15

Port of Baltimore still cut off

0:17

today from the main shipping channel

0:19

after the highway bridge collapsed earlier

0:21

this week. Marketplaces Henry Ap reports.

0:24

Over. Fifteen thousand people worked directly at the

0:26

Port of Baltimore, and over one hundred thousand

0:28

more have jobs tied to the ports activity,

0:30

and for now, there's still work for them

0:32

since there's frayed sitting at the port ready

0:35

to be unloaded. But once that runs out,

0:37

possibly within a week or two, a lot

0:39

of work tries up, and there's not yet

0:41

a clear picture of how long it might

0:43

take to remove the fallen bridge so ships

0:45

can bring in new freight. Maryland lawmakers are

0:47

drafting a bill that would replace lost income

0:50

for port workers, but they're under a tight

0:52

deadline. The Legislature Insurance: April Eighth: I'm Henry

0:54

App for Marketplace. And. Reads in

0:56

reporting about this will be in

0:58

the Marketplace Morning Podcast. Later this

1:00

morning, seven of the largest Us

1:02

sports betting books including Fan Duel

1:04

and Draft Kings are launching a

1:06

trade group to promote what the

1:08

industry wants to promote as safer

1:10

gambling. Members of the Responsible Online

1:13

Gaming Association more share best practices

1:15

and the names of customers who

1:17

been banned from their platforms for

1:19

problematic betting. This comes as Major

1:21

League Baseball and the N B

1:23

A H investigate high profile betting.

1:25

Scandals involving athletes, years, marketplaces,

1:28

semana more. Americans,

1:30

Legally wagered nearly one hundred twenty

1:32

billion dollars on sports and twenty

1:34

twenty three according to the American

1:37

Gaming Association. That's up twenty percent

1:39

from the year before. The.

1:41

Rise of sports betting is also

1:43

driving fan engagement, says Kenneth Shropshire,

1:45

who studies the business of sports

1:47

at Wharton. People. Are watching

1:50

games to the first Make sure the when

1:52

their money here. To. See somebody

1:54

fly way? But. he says

1:56

leagues and sports books have to

1:58

manage perceptions around eras responsible gambling

2:00

and addiction, plus athlete

2:03

betting scandals that can cheapen

2:05

sports. Here we have

2:07

the enterprises themselves coming together and saying,

2:09

how can we provide consumer confidence? The

2:12

companies participating in this trade alliance are

2:14

walking a tricky line, says Victor Matheson,

2:16

an economist at the College of the

2:18

Holy Cross. Let's be

2:20

serious. They're trying to get as much

2:22

revenue as possible. And the way

2:25

you do that is by getting people to

2:27

gamble a lot. He says

2:29

the sportsbooks could be making internal

2:31

rules to head off stricter regulations

2:33

from state governments. I'm

2:35

Savannah Marra for Marketplace. This

2:55

Marketplace podcast is supported by Disney. On

2:57

April 3, Disney will be hosting its

2:59

annual meeting of shareholders. Learn

3:02

more about how to vote along with a

3:04

list of all Disney nominees at votedisney.com. We're

3:08

looking at medical debt this week, the leading

3:10

cause of personal bankruptcies in America, which you're

3:12

about to hear is drawn from a panel

3:14

discussion with a live audience we held in

3:16

St. Paul, Minnesota the other night. Among

3:19

panelists, Alison Sesso with a national

3:21

nonprofit called RIP Medical Debt, Jennifer

3:23

Schultz, University of Minnesota Health Care

3:26

Economist, and the Attorney General

3:28

of the State of Minnesota and former

3:30

Congressman Keith Ellison. This

3:32

is the debt that you and I don't

3:34

ask for. You didn't ask to get cancer.

3:37

So many aspects of medical debt are things

3:39

that are surprised that we don't have any

3:41

chance to shop for. I

3:43

didn't fully understand this. If a spouse were

3:46

to die, the other

3:48

spouse is responsible for the debt? The

3:50

debt switches over. Why is that? The

3:53

Minnesota State Legislature Years ago was influenced

3:55

by people with a lot of influence.

3:57

So Would the act address that? Yes

4:00

it would. It would ban their practice.

4:02

We also would save it. You couldn't

4:04

be denied non emergency care if you

4:06

have the outstanding balance now so that

4:08

happens so someone shows up in are

4:10

in need and this away got some

4:12

dead. Or. Trying to codified into

4:15

law. Can't report a medical debt to

4:17

a credit bureau because you the mass

4:19

with is dead. It isn't really not

4:21

an indicator of your credit worthiness. Jennifer

4:24

your views on from so the prices

4:26

because it can be complex. As

4:28

a country, we pay the highest

4:30

prices for brand name drugs in

4:32

the world. New the Sierra Medicare

4:34

beneficiaries will not pay more than

4:36

two thousand dollars out of pocket.

4:39

For prescription drugs per yes. That

4:41

is a huge when you need to

4:43

tell everybody about that's so to. These

4:45

drugs cause lot of my. but is it

4:47

also true that we subsidize them as taxpayer

4:49

bought. Most of the research on

4:51

drugs is done and are are

4:53

one academic institutions that are paid

4:55

for with an H money that

4:57

is paid for by our taxpayers'

4:59

When I mean I should point out

5:02

that it's not like the pharmaceutical companies

5:04

don't put any money and and most

5:06

drugs don't work but it's still sets

5:08

wrong. My point is. Marginal cost

5:10

of producing the drug once you

5:12

have the patent or once you

5:14

have something that's a fact is

5:16

very small. Village. Sting follow

5:18

up question: what do you think will

5:21

be the impact on medical deaths of

5:23

awesome? Pick the weight loss drugs it

5:25

seem very effective but. Are

5:28

expensive. Well as we can reduce

5:30

the price and we we do so

5:32

the city that can save in the

5:34

long run. the government doesn't budget and

5:36

long runs doesn't look at the savings

5:38

over ten or thirty years, but it's

5:40

and lead to actually reducing health care

5:43

costs. Julie. Has a question It's

5:45

quite practical are they're free financial

5:47

resources if they open up one

5:49

of these bills and they know

5:51

they cannot handle it. Yeah. everyone

5:53

should go to the hospital or

5:56

the provider and ask about financial

5:58

assistance telling the story whatever you

6:00

don't put it on a credit card. Once

6:02

you put it on a credit card, it's

6:04

consumer debt. It's not medical debt anymore. So

6:06

all the protections he's putting in place will

6:08

not apply. Also be really mindful of signing

6:10

up for this great plan that the hospital

6:12

is telling you to sign up for that

6:14

has either a high interest rate or you

6:16

can't afford the monthly bills on and definitely

6:18

don't not pay your rent or other bills

6:21

because you have a medical debt. And they

6:23

also shouldn't sign consent forms when they're in

6:25

the hospital before they get care. You'll get

6:27

the care even if you don't sign a

6:29

consent form. You have a choice? It's an emergency

6:31

situation. They have to provide care. University

6:34

of Minnesota health care economist Jennifer

6:37

Schultz, Alison Sesso from the nonprofit

6:39

R.I.P. Medical Debt and Minnesota Attorney

6:41

General Keith Ellison excerpts from a

6:43

Marketplace live event called Health and

6:46

Wealth Why Americans are Drowning in

6:48

Medical Debt. On YouTube,

6:50

search our handle Marketplace APM and

6:53

Health and Wealth to watch the

6:55

whole conversation. That includes pro tips

6:57

if you find yourself in this

7:00

situation. Also marketplace.org/health wealth has more.

7:03

In New York, I'm David Brancaccio. We're

7:11

from APM, American Public Media.

7:15

Hey there, I'm Brigitte, co-host of

7:17

Million Basilions, Marketplace's podcast for kids

7:19

about money. I want to tell you

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