WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. – The county is teaming up with a nonprofit to wipe out up to $700 million in medical debt for Wayne County residents.
RIP Medical Debt, a national nonprofit, will work with hospitals, health systems, and physicians groups to get rid of debt for some residents. To qualify, residents with medical debt have to earn at or below four times the federal poverty level or have debts that are 5% or more of their annual income.
Residents do not need to apply to have their medical debt forgiven. RIP will find who qualifies and negotiate with health centers on their behalf to buy the debt in batches. If the negotiation was a success, then RIP will send the resident a letter to let them know their debt has been eliminated.
“Nobody takes on medical debt willingly. They do so because illness or injury drove them to it,” said Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Director of Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services. “For many Wayne County residents, that destroyed their credit, leading to mortgages denied and opportunities missed. With this courageous step, Wayne County is stepping in to end that.”
The program is funding, in part, by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
“We’re excited to be standing up our program with Wayne County to relieve the local community of burdensome medical debt,” said RIP Medical Debt CEO and President Allison Sesso. “This collaboration is poised to help those least able to repay their medical debts and relieve a major obstacle to financial and mental well-being. As we secure medical debts to be erased there will be announcements to the community that debt relief letters are imminent.”