debt
Biden administration details potential cuts in education, food aid and more under GOP plan
WASHINGTON — Federal departments and agencies say U.S. House Republicans’ plans to cut federal spending would result in reductions to key programs like food aid, education assistance and wildfire management. The series of letters from across the federal government released Monday detail exactly how plans to cut at least $130 billion in domestic spending during […]
Your money or your life: Ohioan on $50K per week cancer drug fears leaving behind huge medical debt
This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News. After several rounds of treatment for a rare eye cancer — weekly drug infusions that could cost nearly $50,000 each — Paul Davis learned Medicare had abruptly stopped paying the bills. That left Davis, a retired physician in Findlay, Ohio, contemplating a horrific choice: risk saddling […]
A GOP showdown over the debt limit could grip Congress and the nation next year
WASHINGTON — Republicans are eyeing the debt limit and government funding deadlines as a way to force Democrats to the negotiating table for spending cuts, should the GOP regain control of Congress following the midterm elections. Republicans unhappy about government spending could move to shut down the government, a tactic unsuccessful for the GOP in […]
Biden student debt forgiveness plan on temporary hold after appeals court ruling
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from carrying out its student loan forgiveness plan, until the court makes a determination on a request for an injunction brought by six Republican-led states, according to multiple media reports. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is giving the Biden administration […]
Medical debt sunk her credit. New changes from the credit reporting agencies won’t help.
This story was originally published in Kaiser Health News. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After a year of chemo and radiation, doctors told Penelope “Penny” Wingard in 2014 that her breast cancer was in remission. She’d been praying for this good news. But it also meant she no longer qualified for a program in her state that […]
Dayton-based payday lender continues to bury customers in debt
Dozens of consumer complaints and a recent court ruling show how a Dayton-based payday lender continues to bury low-income customers in debt through predatory loans. The complaints detail customers who borrowed a few hundred dollars for short periods from NCP Finance, only to wind up owing thousands to pay them off. They range in time […]
In America, cancer patients endure debt on top of disease
This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News. RAPID CITY, S.D. ― Jeni Rae Peters would make promises to herself as she lay awake nights after being diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. “My kids had lost so much,” said Peters, a single mom and mental health counselor. She had just adopted two […]
How chronic disease drove an Ohio 27-year-old to bankruptcy
An array of different diseases attacked his colon while another clogged the arteries in Kolton Chapman’s brain. Derailing his semesters at Columbus State Community College and saddling Chapman, now 29, with $45,000 in debt he’d never pay off was just collateral damage. “I had been hounded by creditors, all of that, my credit score was […]