If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles County residents with medical debt, you may be in luck.
The county’s medical debt relief program begins Tuesday, months after a Department of Public Health report found that about one in 10 county residents has medical debt, and those approximately 785,000 people owe nearly $3 billion.
Public Health’s program aims to relieve $2 billion of that amount “so that, in addition to long-term reform, we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of the 785,000 LA county residents who are burdened by medical debt today,” the department said on its website.
County officials, who’ve already partnered with the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt to purchase and cancel the debt, added that they hope “philanthropic partners, hospitals, and other health plans will be able to complement this effort.”
So if you have medical debt, how do you qualify for the program?
As detailed by LAist, recipients must be county residents who earn less than or equal to 400% of the federal poverty level, which roughly equates to $124,800 for a family of four.
Additionally, beneficiaries must owe the hospital 5% or more of their annual household income.
If you meet the criteria, there’s no need to apply. Instead, Undue Medical Debt will “select and pay off the debts through participating hospitals, physicians’ groups and other entities that own medical debt and share their data,” LAist explained.
“If your debt is chosen, you’ll get a letter from the nonprofit and L.A. County saying that it’s been canceled,” LAist added. “Those letters will start going out as soon as January.”
And if that wasn’t enough of a benefit, the gift is made through a charitable foundation, so you won’t have to pay taxes on the debt cancellation.
