Wesley Yin, associate professor of public policy and economics, spoke to the New York Times about local governments’ efforts to address the high cost of health care by canceling their constituents’ medical debts. People with medical debt are less likely to seek needed care, and carrying a sizable debt load can damage credit and make it difficult to find employment, research shows. So across the United States, city and county officials are using funds from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan to provide medical debt relief to eligible residents. Erasing this debt could be a “game changer” for some people, said Yin, who is studying the impact of medical debt relief programs on people’s livelihoods. He added, however, that governments should also address the root causes of medical debt, including high costs and limited access to good health insurance.