NBC News: 'Like a miracle': N.C. couple free of nearly $100,000 medical debt after 15 years

[Dennis Donovan]

NBC News - 'Like a miracle': N.C. couple free of nearly $100,000 medical debt after 15 years

The lien on Donna and Gary Lindabury's home for a 2009 heart surgery debt was among 11,500 Atrium Health wiped away after an NBC News report.

Dec. 12, 2024, 7:20 PM EST
By Gretchen Morgenson



For 15 years, Donna and Gary Lindabury, of Vylas, North Carolina, lived with the financial equivalent of an anvil over their heads: a medical debt owed to a nonprofit hospital that at one point reached $200,000.

The debt, owed to Atrium Health for emergency heart surgery Gary underwent in 2009, grew over the years to include almost $100,000 in interest charges, Donna, 72, told NBC News. “We were striving, we were trying, we paid our bills,” she said. “But I just couldn’t afford to pay that hospital.” 

As the years went by and the debt remained, the hospital system placed a lien on the Lindaburys’ home, allowing it to recover what was owed if the couple sold the property.

“We’ve been just so consumed with just trying to get by with this problem,” Gary, 80, said.

Then, in early November, the Lindaburys received a letter from Atrium Health telling them it was removing what was left on the lien — $92,262 — and leaving them free and clear of any obligation to the hospital.

/snip

Here's the NBC News story from September that spurred Atrium to write-off the debt:
'Making peoples' lives hell': When he couldn't pay for cancer treatment, the hospital sued

[Blue_Tires]

1. I swear to fucking christ if these people voted for the angry orange idiot...

[Silent Type]

2. This is biggest tragedy of our so-called healthcare system.

[vanessa_ca]

3. Not to be a contrarian, but this was a N.C. state govt initiative, not Atrium's or NBC's

It was in the making for years. I find it fascinating that the state did something for its citizens and both Atrium and NBC are trying to take credit for it.

Atrium Health signs onto NC’s $4 billion medical debt relief plan

Charlotte’s Advocate Health agreed Friday to participate in the state’s medical debt relief plan. That’s a big win for Gov. Roy Cooper and other proponents, who estimate about 2 million residents would see about $4 billion in debt erased if all N.C. hospitals participated. Advocate owns Atrium Health, the state’s biggest hospital system.

Advocate waited until the last day of the state’s deadline for participation in the program. It calls for the state to pay hospitals up to $800 million – and considerably more in the following year – in federal Medicaid money if they agree to forgive medical debt that state officials say they would likely not have collected anyway. The plan also has provisions to prevent low-income residents from accruing future medical debt.

While Advocate agreed to participate in the program, it sent a note to state officials noting that state’s “good intentions” could lead to unintended consequences, such as:

-Health insurance costs spiking for businesses and individuals if the insurance risk pool shrinks with fewer participants paying premiums.
-Businesses could discontinue offering health benefits if their workforce qualifies for care that may be free.
-People could reject insurance coverage since hospitals are now directed to provide free or deeply discounted care, even to those who are commercially insured.
-Health systems in rural communities not be capable of accepting the policy’s requirements and face tougher economic struggles.

Thirty-seven of the state’s 99 hospitals had signed up to participate as of Wednesday. Those included hospitals affiliated with large systems such as Cone Health, UNC Health, ECU Health and Novant Health. Cooper and Kody Kinsley, head of the N.C. Deparment of Health and Human Services, held a press conference promoting the program in Charlotte on Wednesday, an apparent signal to Advocate.

-snip-

A little more here North Carolina’s Effort to Relieve Medical Debt


Whatever though. I am happy for all the people whose debts were relieved. Thanks for sharing this.