Current:Home > MarketsDetroit-area county will use federal money to erase medical debts-LoTradeCoin
Detroit-area county will use federal money to erase medical debts
View Date:2024-12-23 22:27:16
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A Detroit-area county said it will use $2 million in federal aid to erase the medical debts of thousands of residents.
Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter believes as much as $200 million of debt could be wiped away if health care providers agree to take less money to get some delinquent bills off the books.
The county will be working with RIP Medical Debt, a national nonprofit group, that uses donations to purchase medical debts belonging to people who can’t afford them.
Coulter said he wants the county’s share of federal money “to be transformational.” The money comes from a program intended to stimulate the economy and improve public health after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Residents cannot apply for the program but will be notified if all or some of their debt has been cleared, the Detroit Free Press reported.
RIP Medical Debt will work with area hospitals to determine who fits certain financial criteria.
Kyra Taylor, 34, who lives nearby in Wayne County, said she benefited about three years ago when her debt was eliminated. She’s been a diabetic since a child and needed two transplants.
Erasing debt gave “me my life back,” she said.
___
This story has been corrected to show Kyra Taylor is 34.
veryGood! (4879)
Related
- 24 more monkeys that escaped from a South Carolina lab are recovered unharmed
- Former Boy Scout leader pleads guilty to sexually assaulting New Hampshire boy decades ago
- 'She definitely turned him on': How Napoleon's love letters to Josephine inform a new film
- Robbery suspect’s colorful underwear helped police arrest him, authorities say
- Cold case arrest: Florida man being held in decades-old Massachusetts double murder
- Bradley Cooper Reacts to Controversy Over Wearing Prosthetic Nose in Maestro
- Webb telescope captures cluster of baby stars in the center of the Milky Way
- Incoming Philadelphia mayor taps the city’s chief of school safety as next police commissioner
- Beyoncé has released lots of new products. Here's a Beyhive gift guide for the holidays
- New Philanthropy Roundtable CEO Christie Herrera ready to fight for donor privacy
Ranking
- Man jailed after Tuskegee University shooting says he fired his gun, but denies shooting at anyone
- College Football Playoff rankings: Washington moves up to No. 4 ahead of Florida State
- Wilcox Ice Cream recalls multiple products after listeria found in batch of mint chip
- Twilight Director Reveals Kristen Stewart Crashed Robert Pattinson’s 37th Birthday Party
- John Krasinski named People magazine’s 2024 Sexiest Man Alive
- Wilcox Ice Cream recalls multiple products after listeria found in batch of mint chip
- Get used to it: COVID is a part of the holidays. Here's how to think about risks now
- More Americans are expected to ‘buy now, pay later’ for the holidays. Analysts see a growing risk
Recommendation
-
Maine elections chief who drew Trump’s ire narrates House tabulations in livestream
-
Live updates | Timing for the Israel-Hamas pause in fighting will be announced in the next 24 hours
-
'The whole place shimmered.' 'Dancing With the Stars' celebrates the music of Taylor Swift
-
Bethenny Frankel’s Interior Designer Brooke Gomez Found Dead at 49
-
Sydney Sweeney Slams Women Empowerment in the Industry as Being Fake
-
A hand grenade explosion triggered by a quarrel at a market injured 9 people in southern Kosovo
-
What can trigger an itch? Scientists have found a new culprit
-
Russia’s parliament approves budget with a record amount devoted to defense spending