Former GOP Rep Who Voted Against ACA Seeks Help for Medical Debt

The thing about healthcare is you might not think you need it until you do. Michael Grimm is a former U.S. Representative from New York who pled guilty to tax fraud, resigned from Congress, and spent eight months in prison. When Grimm held office, he was a harsh critic of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare and voted to repeal it in 2012. This September, Grimm suffered a horrific accident when he was thrown from his horse during a polo tournament. His injuries left him paralyzed from the waist down, and he's currently being treated at the same New Jersey rehab facility that treated Christopher Reeve after his accident in 1995. But treatment like that does not come cheap, and now, like millions of Americans, he's having a hard time paying for his healthcare. Grimm's friends and relatives have announced a $2.5 million GoFundMe to pay for his treatment. Crowdfunding medical care is a sad reality created by our broken healthcare system. The cost can be outrageous, and when people can't pay it, they are forced to bear the burden of medical debt. About 100 million Americans owe over $220 billion in medical debt, racking up huge bills basically as a punishment for getting sick or hurt. The Biden-Harris administration has done what it can to help by abolishing billions in debt through the American Rescue Plan, proposing rules to remove medical bills from your credit report, and cracking down on illegal medical debt collection. But the best defense against medical debt is to make sure as many people have insurance as possible, which is where the Affordable Care Act comes in. As Grimm has discovered, nobody in this country should go into debt because of healthcare costs.