Wayne County Launches Initiative to Eliminate $700 Million in Medical Debt

Wayne County has embarked on an ambitious partnership with RIP Medical Debt, a national nonprofit organization, aiming to alleviate up to $700 million in medical debt for eligible residents. The collaboration, sanctioned by the Wayne County Commissioners last week through an approved contract, targets to benefit as many as 300,000 individuals within the county. In the United States, the issue of medical debt is widespread, affecting one in 12 adults, which equates to approximately 12 million people, as reported by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF. This persists despite the majority of Americans being covered by some form of health insurance. The economic strain of medical debt compels individuals to reduce their expenditure on essentials such as food, clothing, and household necessities. Specifically, in Michigan, around 690,000 people, or 9% of adults, find themselves grappling with medical debt annually. Within Wayne County, the scenario is particularly grim, with 13% of individuals holding a credit bureau record also having medical debt in collections, as per findings from the Urban Institute. The median value of medical debt in collections stands at $397. RIP Medical Debt has been instrumental in relieving over $10.4 billion in medical debt across 7 million families since...