A third wave of medical debt relief comes to over 2,100 Lexington residents
Lexington residents with medical debt may want to keep an eye on their mailboxes, as the city has just announced a third wave of medical debt relief.
The Urban County Government announced Wednesday morning that 2,185 residents have had their medical debt — totaling about $4.85 million — cancelled.
Letters will come in the mail soon letting those residents know about the relief. Residents do not need to take any action, but are encouraged to keep the letter for their own personal record-keeping.
This relief is the third wave coming from a three-year partnership between the city and national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt. In total, the partnership has led to $23.1 million in medical debt elimination for 11,825 city residents, including the most recent wave.
The organization purchases medical debt on behalf of patients and forgives the debt, rather than collecting it as many private collection agencies do.
Lexington gave the nonprofit $1 million in 2024 for the partnership. Because medical debt can often be purchased by agencies for pennies on the dollar, Undue Medical Debt estimates it can use that investment to forgive roughly $90 million in debt for Lexington residents.
When debt is relieved, residents get a letter in the mail notifying them they no longer owe a certain debt to a hospital or collection agency.
While no residents have to apply for the relief, the agency does have a specific set of people it seeks to help. Undue Medical Debt purchases and forgives debt of individuals and households with an income up to 400% of the federal poverty line - which comes out to just over $100,000 a year for a family of three - or those with debt totaling more than 5% of their household income.
