Sep 10, 2025
About this episode:
Credit scores are more than just a number—they can determine your ability to access critical financial assets like loans, leases, and jobs that, in turn, have a huge impact on your health. In this episode: Professor Catherine Ettman shares new research that explores the relationship between low credit scores and mental health, and discusses a recent ruling reinstating medical debt as a metric of creditworthiness.
Guest:
Catherine K. Ettman, PhD, is an assistant professor in Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she studies population mental health.
Host:
Stephanie Desmon, MA, is a former journalist, author, and the director of public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs.
Show links and related content:
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Americans' medical debt can stay in credit reports, judge rules. What does that mean?—NPR
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Area-level credit scores and symptoms of depression and anxiety in adults—American Journal of Epidemiology
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An Asset Framework to Guide Nonhealth Policy for Population Health—JAMA Health Forum
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