Four in 10 Americans have medical debt. Most don't know there's a federal law that could eliminate it.

On this episode of The Dose podcast, host Joel Bervell talks with Jared Walker about his nonprofit, Dollar For, which has helped Americans erase more than $100 million in medical debt by connecting them to the charity care programs that hospitals are legally required to offer but rarely publicize.

"These hospitals are great. They're saving people's lives every single day," says Walker. "The problem is that they're also ruining people's financial lives."

With Medicaid cuts on the horizon and health care costs continuing to rise, Walker explains how Dollar For's free screening tool works, why some states are doing a better job of protecting patients than others, and what it will take to make hospitals do what the law already requires.