Medical debt totaling $30 million to be paid off in Connecticut

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut has become the latest state to begin notifying its eligible citizens that some or all of their medical debt will soon be paid off, officials announced Monday.

Nearly 23,000 residents with debt totaling $30 million will automatically be informed by mail beginning Dec. 23, state officials said. Connecticut has been working with the national nonprofit charity Undue Medical Debt toward a plan to eventually wipe out $1 billion in debt for an estimated 250,000 qualified state residents.

“Medical debt is something you don't necessarily have any control over,” said Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat. “Medical debt is when you get hit hard by some sudden medical emergency and all of a sudden you find out the anesthesiologist is not in-network or a high deductible.”

Undue Medical Debt began in 2014 and has to date erased roughly $15 billion by buying and forgiving the debt of people who meet certain income levels. More recently, it began working with states and municipal governments to help them erase their constituents' arrears, CEO and President Allison Sesso said.

New Jersey conducted two rounds of debt cancelations this year with Undue Medical Debt totaling $220 million, while Illinois announced last month that nearly $72 million in debt has so far been eliminated.

Undue Medical Debt also has partnerships with Arizona and Rhode Island, as well as cities and counties. The participating state and local governments leverage public funds, often from their American Rescue Plan Act allocations, to pay off the debt, often for pennies on the dollar. In Connecticut, officials set aside $6.5 million in ARPA funds, and $100,000 was used to pay off this first $30 million.

Los Angeles County, which hopes to erase the medical debt for 150,000 residents, was expected to make a similar announcement Monday about its initiative.