Over 62,000 residents in Washington, D.C., will be having their medical debt erased after the city partnered with Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit organization, to cancel $42 million in unpaid medical bills.
According to a Friday press release, the medical debt cancellation comes after the nonprofit organization Tzedek “recommended and catalyzed” a “public dollars investment” by the Democratic city government. According to Tzedek DC’s website, the organization is committed to “helping people with legal problems arising from debt.”
The city’s investment came through one of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s initiatives and represents the first “large-scale purchase and cancellation of medical debt” by a state-level government. According to Friday’s press release, over 80% of the residents who will have their medical debt erased “live in zip codes that are majority Black or community members of color.”
Bowser described medical debt as a “burden that follows too many families around and holds people back from ever getting their fair shot—especially people of color.” The mayor added, “Erasing medical debt just makes sense—this is a way for us to get life-changing financial help to a large number of people, in the most efficient way possible.”
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In Friday’s press release, Ariel Levinson-Waldman, Tzedek DC’s founding director, said the debt relief initiative marked a “big win” for the residents of Washington, D.C. The organization commended the mayor and the city government for choosing to invest in medical debt cancellation in an effort to combat poverty and solve “health equity problems” caused by medical debt.
Fox 5 reported that city officials have noted that residents impacted by the medical debt initiative will receive a letter from Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit organization that purchases medical debt from medical providers and erases it.
On Friday, D.C. Budget Director Jenny Reed told NBC News 4, “Residents will start to get notified today via letter from undue medical debt that their debt has been completely wiped off the books and their credit restored.”
NBC News 4 reported that Washington, D.C., partnered with multiple medical providers to purchase and erase residents’ medical debt.
“It is [not all medical providers],” Reed added. “And those that participated wish to remain anonymous, so that’s why we will be notifying residents directly via letter starting today.”
