Medical debt depresses credit scores and blocks asset acquisition unequally by race

Evidence

As a result, medical debt is divided along racial lines, too: A 2017 Urban Institute report showed that 31 percent of black Americans have past-due medical debt compared with 23 percent of white Americans. “Past-due medical bills can end up in your credit report and lower your credit score, which means you may not be able to borrow for a mortgage or small business—or you may pay more when you do borrow,” the report added. “Credit report information can also be used to determine whether you get a job or rent an apartment and how much you pay in insurance premiums.” — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 416

Categorization

• XREF: Mechanism chain exactly matching the book’s thesis: a shock (medical bill) becomes durable wealth gap through the neutral-looking credit system treating already-different balance sheets differently.