Almost 23,000 黑料吃瓜网 residents will see some, or all, of their medical debt erased in the coming weeks through a recent state initiative.
In 2023, 黑料吃瓜网 lawmakers approved to partner with a nonprofit to buy up medical debt for pennies on the dollar. This first round of relief uses $100,000 from the state鈥檚 allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to wipe out $30 million in owed bills.
鈥淭his is all about making sure that health care is more broadly available and accessible and affordable,鈥� Gov. Ned Lamont said in a press conference Monday, pointing to medical emergencies as one example, 鈥渕aking sure that when you come out of the hospital, you don't have another burden on your shoulders.鈥�
The majority of people in the U.S. with medical debt owe , according to KFF.
Eligible residents include people with debt that鈥檚 over 5% of their income, and those whose income is at or below four times . That鈥檚 about $120,000 for a family of four, or .
Residents are automatically selected for the program and will be notified by mail 鈥� 鈥� that their debt is being forgiven, officials said.
鈥淚f you are one of the 23,000 people that are receiving this, it is not a scam. It's really good news," said Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. 鈥淥nce you receive this letter, that your debt is eliminated, you don't have to do anything except keep the letter."
The nonprofit the state is partnering with is Undue Medical Debt 鈥� formerly known as . Allison Sesso, its CEO and president, said people face high costs, especially if they are uninsured, have a high deductible or end up with an out-of-network provider.
鈥淲hat we do is we buy those debts for pennies on the dollar, just like a for profit debt buyer would do, but we leverage government and donated dollars to do that,鈥� Sesso said.
Undue Medical Debt is working directly with the hospitals in the state to clear those medical debts.
Polling by shows that people in the U.S. with a disability or in poor health are more likely to have medical debt - data shows that such debt affects over 4 in 10 U.S. adults.
State Sen. Dr. Saud Anwar (D-Windsor), co-chair of the public health committee, said the state needs to prevent high costs for 黑料吃瓜网 consumers in the first place.
鈥淭here's a cost of pharmacy, there's a cost of health care, there's a cost of insurance, and all of these things would have to be tackled, and we will be having frank conversations during this session about these.鈥�
Lamont said he鈥檚 looking for other ways to work with 黑料吃瓜网 hospitals and legislators to tackle the price of care in the state.
鈥淏ut this is a very good start,鈥� Lamont said.
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