Minnesota DFL lawmakers introduce new medical debt legislation
Many Minnesota families are buried under a pile of medical debt, and the state's top attorney wants to change that.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, alongside two Minnesota lawmakers and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, said a new proposal could erase hundreds of thousands in medical bills.
"We have an opportunity in this moment to lift some of the burden some of the weight from people's shoulders," said Sen. Liz Boldon, DFL – Rochester.
Under the proposed Minnesota Medical Debt Reset Act, $5 million of state funding would go toward buying and forgiving medical debt and help hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans. The work would be accomplished by partnering with a debt-forgiveness nonprofit that purchases medical debt from health care providers, for pennies on the dollar.
The nonprofit known as "Undue Medical Debt" said this plan would help up to 400,000 Minnesotans and relieve $500 million of medical debt.
To qualify, Minnesotans must have a household income at or below 400% of federal poverty guidelines or medical debt equal to or exceeding 5% of their household income.
"Nobody chooses to fall into medical debt," said Jenn Schultz from St. Paul.
Schultz is a four-time cancer survivor, who, despite being fully insured, said she had to decide between paying her bills or buying groceries, after racking up thousands in medical debt.
Schultz said she benefited from a very similar program in St. Paul that the city said abolished $40 million of medical debt for thousands of residents.
Schultz is now hoping this statewide effort can help others in the same way.
"Medical debt should not be a side effect of my medical diagnosis," said Schultz.
