Governor Phil Murphy today announced that thousands of eligible individuals and families across New Jersey are set to have some or all of their medical debt eliminated as part of a major initiative to make health care more affordable and accessible. By leveraging over $550 thousand in American Rescue Plan funds and partnering with Undue Medical Debt (Undue), the administration is delivering relief to 17,905 New Jersey residents who had owed $61.6 million to Prime Healthcare hospitals and an additional 31,748 residents owing more than $38.4 million to other providers through the secondary debt market, primarily collections agencies. Prime Healthcare partnered with Undue to sell qualifying, unpayable medical debts for relief.
This announcement follows the signing of the Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act, which safeguards New Jersey families from accumulating medical debt, protects against predatory medical debt collectors, and prohibits the reporting of medical debt to credit reporting agencies. New Jersey is a leading state in consumer protection policies and supports for residents, being one of only five states in the nation that both prohibits medical debt reporting to credit agencies and has allocated funding to provide residents with direct medical debt relief.
There is no application process for medical debt relief. Undue works with hospital systems across the country to purchase large, bundled portfolios of past-due medical debt belonging to those least able to pay. Instead of trying to collect, Undue erases the debt.
Those who qualify for medical debt relief are either four times or below the federal poverty level or have medical debts that equal 5% or more of their annual income. These are the only criteria for relief. Undue has worked with Prime Healthcare and other New Jersey-based health care providers to identify unpaid medical debts that qualify for erasure. This is a one-time abolishment to help remove the financial and emotional burden of unpayable medical debts. Medical debt relief is source-based, depending on community-minded providers like hospitals who choose to engage, and it cannot be requested.
Those benefiting from medical debt relief will receive an Undue branded letter in the mail beginning Monday, August 19, 2024. Learn more about Undue here.