Thousands of people in our state will soon have some of their medical debt erased.
According to Governor Ned Lamont, about 23,000 people in our state will soon have some, if not all, of their medical debt erased.
Governor Lamont made that announcement at the state capitol on Monday. He said no one should have to worry about costs over their health.
“This is an emergency that you should live through and make sure you’re taken care of and make sure when you come out of the hospital you don’t have another burden on your shoulders,” said Lamont.
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One of those people with that type of burden is Dennis Thomas, a heart transplant recipient.
“Just alone, medication was about $10,000 a month,” said Thomas.
Thomas is a heart transplant survivor. Fifteen years ago, he needed a new heart after getting diagnosed with myocarditis; a condition that causes inflammation around the heart’s muscle.
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Not only did he have to worry about surgery, but the cost of it too.
“These hearts are not on the shelf," said Thomas. "It’s not Walmart. It’s not Amazon.”
He said the surgery alone cost about a million dollars.
Those types of medical bills are exactly what one nonprofit is hoping to end through this new initiative.
Allison Sesso, the president and CEO of Undue Medical Debt, said their goal is to eliminate medical debt.
“We are a charitable national organization that buys medical debt for pennies on the dollar and then sends relief letters to all the debt we obtained,” said Sesso.
Sesso told us who qualifies. “Everyone who is 400% below the poverty line. If your debt is in one of our files that we got our hands on, you’ll get a letter and let you know that your debt has been relieved, or that you have a debt that’s 5% or more of your income.
Thomas said this gives him hope for others who may be going through a similar struggle.
"My blessing is to stand here and talk about it because some people can’t," said Thomas.
This is just the first round of debt relief through this new partnership.
The state is looking to expand it in the future.
