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Cleveland program erases roughly $165.2 million in medical debt for city residents using ARPA funds
Summary
City council and nonprofit partner Undue Medical Debt announced the abolition of about $165.2 million in medical bills for Cleveland residents after a city-funded program purchased and erased accounts; council says roughly $1 million in ARPA funds remain unspent.
Councilman Chris Harsh and the city of Cleveland announced that a city-backed program with the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt purchased and abolished roughly $165,234,311.18 in medical debt for Cleveland residents, officials said at a council event.
The program used an American Rescue Plan Act allocation to buy medical debt portfolios from hospitals and secondary-market holders and then erase qualifying accounts, officials said. Council members described the project as a way to direct federal pandemic-recovery dollars to individual residents.
Councilman Chris Harsh said the initiative "has been able to relieve $165,234,311.18 of debt for Cleveland residents," and that the work reached Clevelanders specifically while leveraging additional philanthropic funds to erase debt for people outside the city.
The effort was created using an initial ARPA allocation of $1,900,000, Harsh said; the program ultimately cost the city "well under" that figure and left "about over a million dollars…
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