 Had I not been insured, had I not had the means to pay my out-of-pocket costs, or had I only learned about my hernia after I presented to an emergency room with an incarceration, I might have wound up being one of the millions of people in this country with medical debt. And these impossible choices too many Americans are forced into are why we hold so much debt in this country. The consequences are staggering. Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy, as Senator Sanders mentioned. Together, we owe at least $220 billion in total medical debt. To put that in perspective, that's more than the GDP of half the states in this country.