Charities that help people cover their medical bills say they’re seeing an alarming increase in requests for help.
Worse yet, they say, it’s coming even before cuts to Medicaid in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act take effect and the potential expiration of Obamacare subsidies at year’s end. The charities are warning of exploding medical debt and lower survival rates for diseases like cancer if Congress doesn’t act.
“Our organization can’t really handle much more demand,” said Michael Sapienza, chief executive of the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, which helps patients pay for colonoscopies, tests and cancer treatment.
Financial assistance from the HealthWell Foundation, one of the largest charities in the country, is already 23 percent higher this year than all of last year. Requests swamped the fund it launched this month to help consumers offset higher Obamacare premiums that are likely if the subsidies expire, prompting it to stop taking new applicants after just two days. The Colorectal Cancer Alliance has seen a 26 percent increase in requests year-over-year, and CancerCare, another charity, has seen a 10 percent increase in year-over-year requests.
Michael Heimall, HealthWell’s chief executive, expects the spike in assistance requests to continue next year and expressed concern over whether donors, who are also under price pressure, can maintain or ramp up their payments.
“I don’t see the demand curve flattening out in the foreseeable future,” said Heimall. “As economic things tighten, your donors have to make decisions about if they are going to donate to a charity or are they going to invest in some of the things they need to invest in?”
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https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/27/medical-bills-debt-charity-obamacare-medicaid-00669834