A group of cancer patients, survivors and advocates is urging the Iowa legislature to cap the amount of interest than can be charged on medical debt.
John Buntsma of Orange City said he talked last weekend with a man who had cancer — and had to declare bankruptcy because of his medical debts. “Sadly what happens when people get into bankruptcy, you know they just sort of shrink,” Buntsma told Radio Iowa. “…He says that people sort of scorned him for having gone bankrupt and, you know, it was not his choice to get cancer.”
A recent American Cancer Society survey found nearly half of cancer patients and survivors have had medical debt. Over 60% of personal bankruptcies are due to unpaid medical bills. Marshalltown Mayor Joel Greer is among those asking the legislature to pass a bill placing a 2% limit on the interest that can be charged on medical bills.
“Right now if you’re absolutely desperate, you can find these medical cards at medical facilities,” he told Radio Iowa. “If you sign up for those, you can wind up with 30+ percent interest.”
The group’s other request is about Medicaid — asking that cancer patients be exempt from work requirements that may be ordered for Iowans enrolled in Medicaid. “And then if they have to fill out their onerous pile of paperwork every 30 days to say they still have cancer, that’s probably not going to happen and so those people will fall off Medicaid and they’ll die sooner,” Greer said. “And their cancer will cost them and society more.”
Yesterday was the American Cancer Society’s annual Cancer Action Day at the Iowa Capitol, an event Greer started attending in 1986. “We’ve had all sort of incidence of cancer in our family and friends. Two of my senior partners died of cancer within a year and a half of each other,” Greer aid. “I just went to just went to a really good person’s funeral. He died of cancer. Nothing caused by him. He was one of those non-smokers, non-drinkers. Just a nice guy and so it’s that sort of thing that has me coming back every year that I can.”
According to the Iowa Cancer Registry, about 21,000 Iowans were diagnosed with cancer in 2024. Iowa is the only state where cancer rates are growing.