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Medical Debt Is Being Erased in Ohio and Illinois. Is Your Town Next?
Medical Debt Is Being Erased in Ohio and Illinois. Is Your Town Next?
Cook County, Ill., and Toledo, Ohio, are turning to the American Rescue Plan to wipe out residents’ medical debt. Experts caution it is a short-term solution.
By Amanda Holpuch
Dec. 29, 2022
In the next few weeks, tens of thousands of people in Cook County, Ill., will open their mailboxes to find a letter from the county government explaining that their medical debt has been paid off. ... Officials in New Orleans and Toledo, Ohio, are finalizing contracts so that tens of thousands of residents can receive a similar letter in the coming year. In Pittsburgh on Dec. 19, the City Council approved a budget that would include $1 million for medical debt relief.
More local governments are likely to follow as county executives and city councils embrace a new strategy to address the high cost of health care. They are partnering with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that aims to abolish medical debt by buying it from hospitals, health systems and collections agencies at a steep discount. ... “What we need in this country is universal health care, clearly,” Toni Preckwinkle, the president of the Board of Commissioners in Cook County, said. “But we’re not there as a nation yet, and so those of us who are responsible for local units of government have to do everything we can to make health care available, accessible to people.”
About 18 percent of Americans have medical debt that has been turned over to a third party for collection, according to a report published in July 2021 in the medical journal JAMA. That figure does not account for medical debt that is carried on credit cards or all medical bills owed to providers. Research shows that people with medical debt are less likely to seek needed care and that medical debt can damage people’s credit and make it more difficult for them to secure employment.
Cook County plans to spend $12 million on medical debt relief and expects to erase debt for the first batch of beneficiaries by early January. In Lucas County, Ohio, and its largest city, Toledo, up to $240 million in medical debt could be paid off at a cost of $1.6 million. New Orleans is looking to spend $1.3 million to clear $130 million in medical debt. The $1 million in Pittsburgh’s budget could wipe out $115 million in debt, officials said.
{snip}
Amanda Holpuch is a general assignment reporter. @holpuch
A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 30, 2022, Section B, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Erasing Medical Debt Is Catching On in U.S. Is Your Town Next?. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
Cook County, Ill., and Toledo, Ohio, are turning to the American Rescue Plan to wipe out residents’ medical debt. Experts caution it is a short-term solution.
By Amanda Holpuch
Dec. 29, 2022
In the next few weeks, tens of thousands of people in Cook County, Ill., will open their mailboxes to find a letter from the county government explaining that their medical debt has been paid off. ... Officials in New Orleans and Toledo, Ohio, are finalizing contracts so that tens of thousands of residents can receive a similar letter in the coming year. In Pittsburgh on Dec. 19, the City Council approved a budget that would include $1 million for medical debt relief.
More local governments are likely to follow as county executives and city councils embrace a new strategy to address the high cost of health care. They are partnering with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that aims to abolish medical debt by buying it from hospitals, health systems and collections agencies at a steep discount. ... “What we need in this country is universal health care, clearly,” Toni Preckwinkle, the president of the Board of Commissioners in Cook County, said. “But we’re not there as a nation yet, and so those of us who are responsible for local units of government have to do everything we can to make health care available, accessible to people.”
About 18 percent of Americans have medical debt that has been turned over to a third party for collection, according to a report published in July 2021 in the medical journal JAMA. That figure does not account for medical debt that is carried on credit cards or all medical bills owed to providers. Research shows that people with medical debt are less likely to seek needed care and that medical debt can damage people’s credit and make it more difficult for them to secure employment.
Cook County plans to spend $12 million on medical debt relief and expects to erase debt for the first batch of beneficiaries by early January. In Lucas County, Ohio, and its largest city, Toledo, up to $240 million in medical debt could be paid off at a cost of $1.6 million. New Orleans is looking to spend $1.3 million to clear $130 million in medical debt. The $1 million in Pittsburgh’s budget could wipe out $115 million in debt, officials said.
{snip}
Amanda Holpuch is a general assignment reporter. @holpuch
A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 30, 2022, Section B, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Erasing Medical Debt Is Catching On in U.S. Is Your Town Next?. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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