Nearly 6,000 Chicagoans to get letters this holiday season saying their unpaid medical debt is forgiven. Learn about the group behind the gifts. – Chicago Tribune
A network of area churches this summer banded together to take on the debt collection system that profits “on the backs of poor people”; to help restore bad credit marred by medical debt; and to inspire joy, said the organizers, the Rev. Otis Moss III and the Rev. Traci Blackmon. As a result, Moss said they’ve wiped out more than $5.3 million in medical debt, and they soon plan to send letters to nearly 6,000 Cook County residents with a no-strings-attached message: “May you have a beautiful, wonderful holiday. Your debt has been forgiven. Enjoy Thanksgiving.”
Most medical debt is usually the smallest most insignificant debt to pay. It’s a $30 co-pay here, a $7 lab fee there, and maybe a few hundred dollar ER bill. The really large bills you hear about, well, those people often end up getting covered through medicaid. There’s the occasional cancer treatment that costs more from the out of network hospital or the out-of-network balance billing and those are unfortunate, but a lot of medical bills people feel they should have to pay or just disregard them entirely. it’s really pretty shocking how few people actually pay their medical co[pays.… Read more »
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Most medical debt is usually the smallest most insignificant debt to pay. It’s a $30 co-pay here, a $7 lab fee there, and maybe a few hundred dollar ER bill. The really large bills you hear about, well, those people often end up getting covered through medicaid. There’s the occasional cancer treatment that costs more from the out of network hospital or the out-of-network balance billing and those are unfortunate, but a lot of medical bills people feel they should have to pay or just disregard them entirely. it’s really pretty shocking how few people actually pay their medical co[pays.… Read more »