Orange County leaders approve plan to buy medical debt of more than 150,000 people
PREVIOUS ONE COMING UP IN 15 MINUTES. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. RIGHT NOW, ORANGE COUNTY LEADERS ARE VOTING ON WHETHER TO WIPE OUT THE MEDICAL DEBT OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE COUNTY. COMMISSIONERS COULD SPEND. $4.5 MILLION TO HIRE A COMPANY THAT WOULD BUY UP THAT DEBT. WESH 2’S BOB HAZEN HAS BEEN AT THE COMMISSIONERS MEETING ALL MORNING. SO BOB, THEY’VE HAD A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROGRAM. YEAH. NANCY AND I CAN TELL YOU JUST ABOUT ONE MINUTE AGO, THEY DID VOTE TO APPROVE THAT PLAN TO BUY UP THAT MEDICAL DEBT. THEY ALL LIKED THE IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE. BUT THEY HAD CONCERNS ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO PEOPLE WHOSE DEBT HAS ALREADY BEEN BOUGHT UP BY A COLLECTION AGENCY, AND ALSO WHETHER THERE WERE BETTER USES FOR THAT MONEY. NOW, BEFORE THIS MEETING STARTED THIS MORNING, A GROUP GATHERED OUTSIDE TO URGE COMMISSIONERS TO APPROVE THE PLAN. UNDER IT, THE COUNTY WOULD USE $4.5 MILLION THAT IT GOT FROM THE FEDERAL AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT, WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO GO TO COVID RELATED ISSUES. THAT MONEY WOULD THEN GO TO A COMPANY CALLED UNDUE MEDICAL DEBT, WHICH WOULD BUY THE DEBTS FROM THE TWO BIGGEST HOSPITAL SYSTEMS IN TOWN, ORLANDO HEALTH AND ADVENTHEALTH. THE COMPANY CAN BUY THE DEBT FOR A TINY FRACTION OF THE ACTUAL TOTAL DEBT. IN FACT, THEY SAY THE 4.5 MILLION BUCKS WOULD WIPE OUT $424 MILLION WORTH OF DEBT FOR MORE THAN 125,000 PEOPLE. COMMISSIONERS HAVE SAID THEY WORRY IT WOULDN’T HELP PEOPLE WHO HAVE HOSPITAL DEBTS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN SOLD OFF TO A COLLECTION AGENCY, BUT THE CEO OF THE COMPANY IS HERE, SHE SAID. USUALLY HOSPITALS DO HOLD ONTO THE DEBT, EVEN IF THEY HAVE AN OUTSIDE AGENCY TRYING TO COLLECT IT, AND THAT RELIEVING THE DEBT IS ALSO ABOUT GIVING PEOPLE HOPE IS REMOVING THESE DEBTS IS NOT JUST ABOUT CREDIT WORTHINESS. WE KNOW THAT PEOPLE DO NOT GO TO THE HOSPITAL TO GET THE CARE THAT THEY NEED, BECAUSE THEY ARE IN DEBT. OTHER JURISDICTIONS. NOW, AGAIN, JUST ABOUT ONE MINUTE AGO, COUNTY COMMISSIONERS DID APPROVE THE PROGRAM. NOW PEOPLE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO APPLY FOR THAT RELIEF. THE COMPANY WOULD JUST BUY UP ALL OF THE DEBT AT HOSPITALS FOR PEOPLE WITHIN A CERTAIN INCOME LIMIT. FOR A FAMILY OF FOUR, THAT WOULD HAVE TO BE A HOUSEHOLD INCOME UNDER AROUND $125,000. AND THOSE PEOPLE WOULD THEN GET A LETTER IN THE MAIL SAYING THAT THEIR DEBTS HAVE BEEN RELIEVED. AGAIN, JUST WANT TO REITERATE AGAIN THAT THE COMMISSIONERS JUST NOW VOTED TO APPROVE THAT MEDICAL DEBT RELIEF PLAN. REPORTING LI
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Orange County leaders approve plan to buy medical debt of more than 150,000 people
Orange County leaders approved a plan to buy up the medical debt of more than 150,000 people.County commissioners voted 5-2 to approve the medical debt relief plan during their meeting Tuesday.The plan calls for hiring a nonprofit company, Undue Medical Debt, to identify people in Orange County with outstanding bills and pay off those debts.The county will use $4.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to fund the program. Officials say the two biggest hospital systems in Central Florida, Orlando Health and AdventHealth, have said they’re willing to participate.The company would work with those hospitals to find people who could qualify. There are income limits: for a family of four, the total household income would have to be under $124,800. The program could also be available to people with medical debt equal to or greater than 5% of their household income.Commissioners had signaled they liked the idea during past meetings, but delayed a vote because several worried that it would only pay newer bills at the hospitals and not help people whose debts had already been sold to collection agencies.On Tuesday, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings voted against the plan, saying the money could be useful for building homeless shelters on the east and west side of the county.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
Orange County leaders approved a plan to buy up the medical debt of more than 150,000 people.
County commissioners voted 5-2 to approve the medical debt relief plan during their meeting Tuesday.
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The plan calls for hiring a nonprofit company, Undue Medical Debt, to identify people in Orange County with outstanding bills and pay off those debts.
The county will use $4.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to fund the program. Officials say the two biggest hospital systems in Central Florida, Orlando Health and AdventHealth, have said they’re willing to participate.
The company would work with those hospitals to find people who could qualify. There are income limits: for a family of four, the total household income would have to be under $124,800. The program could also be available to people with medical debt equal to or greater than 5% of their household income.
Commissioners had signaled they liked the idea during past meetings, but delayed a vote because several worried that it would only pay newer bills at the hospitals and not help people whose debts had already been sold to collection agencies.
On Tuesday, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings voted against the plan, saying the money could be useful for building homeless shelters on the east and west side of the county.
