LANSING, Mich. — Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday said Michigan’s latest medical-debt buyout clears more than $21 million owed by 9,767 residents.
Notice letters were scheduled to begin arriving this week. Across all rounds so far, the state has retired more than $221 million in hospital and clinic balances via its partnership with Undue Medical Debt.
Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II framed the buyouts as a way to free households that otherwise trim groceries or delay care when a medical bill comes due.
Program math aims for roughly $100 of forgiven debt for each dollar the state routes through Undue Medical Debt. Participating hospitals supplied the accounts and asked not to be named while treating the write-offs as community benefit.
Officials tied the work to fighting a national pattern in which unpaid medical bills drive personal bankruptcies.
Medical debt relief cannot be requested by individuals; the state and Undue Medical Debt select eligible balances and mail notice once an account is retired.
