Connecticut governor unveils plan to nix medical debt for eligible residents

The Hill ^ | 02/02/2024 | TARA SUTER

[ChicagoConservative27]

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) unveiled a plan on Friday to cancel medical debt for residents of the Constitution State, in what would be a first-of-its-kind initiative.

The plan was first unveiled on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” According to ABC, the plan includes using $6.5 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to cancel $1 billion of medical debt in collaboration with a nonprofit that buys and eliminates debt.

Those who are eligible for the cancellation include families that have debt equivalent to 5 percent or higher of annual income.

“This is not something they did because they were spending too much money, this is something because they got hit with a medical emergency,” Lamont said of those struggling with medical debt. “They should not have to suffer twice, first with the illness, then with the debt.”

[tlozo]

According to “GMA,” qualifying residents include those “whose household income is up to 400% of the federal poverty line (for a family of four, that’s $156,000 annually) or whose medical debt equates to 5% or more of their annual income will be eligible under the program.”

Somebody who owes 5% of their annual income to medical debt cannot pay it back?