A Connecticut resident, identified only as Tammie was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago. While she did have insurance, not all parts of her treatment were covered.
“In the midst of it all, money was tight,” according to a testimonial Tammie provided to the nonprofit organization Undue Medical Debt, who has partnered with Connecticut to help provide thousands of Connecticut residents with either total or partial medical debt elimination.
Tammie received $2,338 in debt relief thanks to the program.
“Now the phone calls will stop,” her testimony said.
This week, Gov. Ned Lamont’s office announced that 100,000 Connecticut residents would be receiving these notification letters. The state invested $575,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding and Undue Medical Debt negotiated with a secondary market partner to acquire and eliminate more than $100 million in qualifying medical debt, according to a statement from Lamont’s office.
In the first round, announced in December, 23,000 Connecticut residents received letters after $30 million in medical debt was eliminated, officials said.
“Medical debt causes additional anxiety and stress when individuals and families are coping with potentially life-threatening health situations,” Lamont said.
Those who receive medical debt relief have to meet income requirements — making at or below four times (400%) the federal poverty level, currently $15,650 for an individual and $32,150 for a family of four, or have medical debt that is 5% or more of their income.
The legislature enacted legislation to make $6.5 million in ARPA funding available for medical debt relief, and officials say more rounds are expected.
According to the testimony of another Connecticut woman, a single mother with kidney failure whose name was withheld, her medical debt was much larger than her income.
“I struggle with trying to afford treatments, surgeries, testing, specialists, and even check-ups. To be honest, I don’t follow through with even a quarter of what is necessary for my kidney disease because I just don’t have the money for it,” according to her statement. “95% of my mail is from debt collectors trying to collect medical debt and I assumed that the envelope from Undue Medical Debt would contain something similar.”
Instead, the letter informed her that she was receiving $15,686 in debt relief.
“I read the letter stating that it paid my hospital bill and I just couldn’t believe that it was true, I had to look it up,” the woman wrote.
According to Undue Medical Debt’s website, 100 million American adults owe more than $220 billion in medical debt.
There is no application process for these funds in the Connecticut debt relief program. Qualified debt is acquired through partners like hospitals and collection agencies, which is then purchased and eliminated.