More than 46,000 residents in Wayne County have had tens of million of medical debt erased.
Wayne County Department of Health, Human, and Veteran Services Director Dr. Abdul El-Sayed says the county ranks eighth in the country for Medical debt per population. El-Sayed says this first round of debt relief is working toward a much greater goal.
“And the first crunch of debt elimination went out this week,” El-Sayed said. “We’re eliminating nearly $27 million of debt for 46,000 folks. And that happened because a healthcare provider decided to work with undue medical debt to allow it to purchase that debt, and so we’re able to notify those 4,600 people in our county that they’ve had their debt eliminated. That really is a big deal and couldn’t come soon enough for anybody, but we’re glad to get that first crunch out of the door.”
El-Sayed says their debt is acquired from providers like hospitals and physicians groups.
The national nonprofit “Undue Medical Debt” bundles and sells debt “portfolios” for pennies or less on the dollar. On average, one dollar donated to the nonprofit relieves $100 of medical debt.
