The ER visit was scary. The diagnosis was fine — just an anxiety attack, not a heart attack. But five months later, the family in Grants Pass is being told they have 7 days to leave their home.

This is Episode 2 of the Medical Debt series, and it's about the number nobody talks about: families with medical debt are 2.8 times more likely to miss rent. In a housing market with a 1.2% vacancy rate — where landlords can reject anyone with a collections notice on their credit — that's not just a financial problem. It's a homelessness pipeline.

Noah Volz walks through the budget arithmetic that makes this nearly inevitable for the Southern Oregon working middle class: a family earning $58,000, with $160 left over each month after the basics, facing a $250 minimum medical payment plan. Every option they have leads to the same place. Pay the  ...