Kaylynn, who has long, wavy light brown hair. leans against a wall with gray siding. She is one of tens of millions of Americans faced with medical debt.
Kaylynn's Story: Waiting for the Bill
Kaylynn shares how a recurring medical emergency uprooted her life. Kaylynn said: “My biggest issue is life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness — and how the health care was set up almost took out all three of them.”

Three years ago, Kaylynn had a cyst, which was so painful she could barely move. She visited her local urgent care for help so many times that she was on a first name basis with the care team. Each visit cost Kaylynn nearly $300 out-of-pocket, but the treatment never lasted: the cyst kept coming back.

The care center recommended surgery, but Kaylynn didn’t pursue it because she feared the cost. Kaylynn was a tutor for families, offering homeschooling support. She did not have health insurance, and her only source of information about potential costs was Google — and it was a terrifying prospect.

When Kaylynn could no longer bear the pain, not to mention the impact to her well-being, she elected to have the cyst surgically removed. After the surgery, she waited for the medical bill to arrive.

It was more than $20,000.

“It made me so mad,” Kaylynn said. “My biggest issue is life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness — and how the health care was set up almost took out all three of them.”

Kaylynn says that there’s no way that people in the United States should have to live this way. “I don’t wish for anyone to have to go through what I went through, the ups and downs. To think about the health care in this country, it made me livid.”

Kaylynn worked with a wonderful non-profit, Dollar For, to help eliminate her medical debt. Dollar For’s mission is to eliminate medical debt by empowering patients and advocating on their behalf.