One county in Illinois is considering a plan that would wipe away $1billion in medical debt.
The county government has proposed spending $12million to fund this.
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Who qualifies for the debt write off?
In Cook County, Illinois– including the Chicago metropolitan area, is home to more than 5million Americans. Cook County wants to use $12billion of funding from the American Rescue Plan to write off medical debt. The money would go to RIP Medical Debt. It is a non-profit group that has helped relieve more than 3million people of nearly $7billion in medical debt.
RIP Medical Debt will but medical debt in bulk at a fraction of the actual amount owed. Rather than trying to collect the money, the organization forgives the debt and notifies people that they no longer owe anything.
RIP claims that one dollar in funding can eliminate $100 in medical debt. $12million in funding would buy $1billion worth of debt and completely eliminate it.
Anyone with a household income less than four times the Federal Poverty Level can qualify for debt relief. For example, the income cap for a family of four would be $111,000. You could also qualify for debt relief if the toral debt owed is greater than 5% of your annual income.
In May, the organization partnered with TransUnion Healthcare in Chicago to relieve 1,287 Cook County residents for $1.3 million in combined owed debt.
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