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The City Hall is launching a massive program to pay off New Yorkers’ medical debts, writes the New York Post. City residents are expected to be written off millions of dollars they owe to local hospitals.
The city’s Department of Health has entered into an agreement with the national non-profit group Medical Debt Resolution/RIP Medical Debt. The company buys back patient debt from hospitals for a fraction of face value and repays it with collected private donations as well as government funding.
“RIP Medical Debt will act as a third party between private donors and hospitals to write off medical debts. RIP Medical Debt is the only organization operating in the United States that buys and cancels financially distressed medical debt on a tax-free basis,” the Department of Health said in a legal notice.
The city’s Health + Hospitals agency operates 11 municipal hospitals and 70 clinics. The system serves the largest number of poor patients in the city. They will also benefit as low-income patients may not be able to repay hospitals without this initiative.
On the subject: An immigrant from Ukraine was recognized as the ‘health heroine’ of New York
Eligibility Criteria
Debt is waived for residents who meet income and other eligibility requirements. The program requires a person’s income to be no more than four times the federal poverty level (FPL) and their medical debt to be greater than 5% of their annual income.
In 2023, the FPL is $14,580 per year for one person and $30,000 for a family of four. According to the data, one person must earn less than $58,320 and a family of four less than $120,000 to qualify for the medical debt relief program.
“We only buy debt from people who have been pre-screened for eligibility,” says the RIP Medical Debt website. “We never collect the debts we buy, we only write them off. As a rule, after that, patients receive a letter stating that their debt has been paid off.”
On the subject: New York City Hall could send you money, but you most likely threw the envelope in the trash
Program results
RIP Medical Debt currently works with Cook County, Illinois, which includes the City of Chicago. They are trying to negotiate a buyout of up to $1 billion in medical debt and write it off. Officials raised $12 million from the federal budget to start the debt repayment program.
Cook County recently announced that RIP Medical Debt has already raised $79.2 million to help pay off the medical debt of 72,989 Cook County residents.
Nationwide, RIP Medical Debt closed $9.8 billion in hospital bills for 6,633,189 American families. This company was founded in 2014 by two former heads of debt collection.
It is not yet clear what amounts in New York are in question, but it will definitely be millions of dollars.
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New Yorkers to be written off millions of dollars of medical debt
The City Hall is launching a massive program to pay off New Yorkers’ medical debts, writes the New York Post. City residents are expected to be written off millions of dollars they owe to local hospitals.
The city’s Department of Health has entered into an agreement with the national non-profit group Medical Debt Resolution/RIP Medical Debt. The company buys back patient debt from hospitals for a fraction of face value and repays it with collected private donations as well as government funding.
“RIP Medical Debt will act as a third party between private donors and hospitals to write off medical debts. RIP Medical Debt is the only organization operating in the United States that buys and cancels financially distressed medical debt on a tax-free basis,” the Department of Health said in a legal notice.
The city’s Health + Hospitals agency operates 11 municipal hospitals and 70 clinics. The system serves the largest number of poor patients in the city. They will also benefit as low-income patients may not be able to repay hospitals without this initiative.
On the subject: An immigrant from Ukraine was recognized as the ‘health heroine’ of New York
Eligibility Criteria
Debt is waived for residents who meet income and other eligibility requirements. The program requires a person’s income to be no more than four times the federal poverty level (FPL) and their medical debt to be greater than 5% of their annual income.
In 2023, the FPL is $14,580 per year for one person and $30,000 for a family of four. According to the data, one person must earn less than $58,320 and a family of four less than $120,000 to qualify for the medical debt relief program.
“We only buy debt from people who have been pre-screened for eligibility,” says the RIP Medical Debt website. “We never collect the debts we buy, we only write them off. As a rule, after that, patients receive a letter stating that their debt has been paid off.”
On the subject: New York City Hall could send you money, but you most likely threw the envelope in the trash
Program results
RIP Medical Debt currently works with Cook County, Illinois, which includes the City of Chicago. They are trying to negotiate a buyout of up to $1 billion in medical debt and write it off. Officials raised $12 million from the federal budget to start the debt repayment program.
Cook County recently announced that RIP Medical Debt has already raised $79.2 million to help pay off the medical debt of 72,989 Cook County residents.
Nationwide, RIP Medical Debt closed $9.8 billion in hospital bills for 6,633,189 American families. This company was founded in 2014 by two former heads of debt collection.
It is not yet clear what amounts in New York are in question, but it will definitely be millions of dollars.
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