Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders backs bill eliminating medical debt [Video]

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, joined by colleagues in the U.S. Senate and House, is sponsoring a bill that would wipe out the approximately $220 billion in medical debt that’s held by millions of Americans.

The bill introduced Wednesday also would remove the debt from credit reports and “drastically limit the accrual of future medical debt,” according to a statement that Sanders’ office released Wednesday.

The Vermont independent is joined on the bill by U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Democratic U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna, of California, and Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan.

“No one in America should face financial ruin because of the outrageous cost of an unexpected medical emergency or a hospital stay,” Sanders said in a statement. “The time has come to cancel all medical debt and guarantee health care to all as a human right, not a privilege.”

More than a quarter (27%) of all working-age adults nationwide owe $500 or more in medical debt, …