Taxpayer-subsidized medical debt relief program ready for Pritzker’s
desk
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[June 17, 2024]
By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – More than 300,000 Illinois residents stand to be
cleared of all outstanding medical debt through the creation of the
Medical Debt Relief Pilot Program Fund ready to be sent to the governor.
Sponsored by state Sen. Mike Simmons, D-Chicago, House Bill 5290 seeks
to alleviate medical debt for families across the state residing in
households with individuals falling below 400% of the Federal Poverty
Level or saddled with medical debt equating to 5% or more of their
household income.
“It makes people afraid to go to the doctor, afraid to follow up on
chronic illnesses that need consistent care when people are getting all
kinds of bills every time they go to the hospital that they will never
be able to pay,” Simmons told The Center Square.
If approved by the governor, the five-year pilot program will work with
a nonprofit to use $10 million to pay off up to $1 billion in medical
debt.
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“This measure will set the slate ocean for so many people in our state
and about 90% of people who currently have medical debt will be able to
see relief through this measure,” Simmons said.
In the House, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, carried the bill
where she highlighted one of her favorite things about the program.
“It also gives the [Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family
Services] the opportunity to accept private funds and charitable funds
to make those available as well,” she said.
GOP lawmakers like state Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, are openly
expressing regret and concern about things having come to this.
“One thing we need to remember is that Illinois is broke and people are
leaving,” Miller told The Center Square.
State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, supported the concept for
constituents in central Illinois strapped with such debt, but questioned
other priorities.
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker during a news conference Monday in
Chicago - BlueRoomStream
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“If this is a worthy program, that it goes to provide some relief
for these individuals and again not spend hundreds of millions or
billions of dollars on a population that are here illegally,”
Halbrook said during debate last month.
Republicans are critical of the state continuing and increasing the
budget for non-citizen health care that is subsidized by Illinois
taxpayers.
Cassidy said the bill is silent on whether those benefiting from the
taxpayer-subsidized debt relief program have to be citizens of the
United States.
During a news conference in Chicago in April, Pritzker said 14% of
the state’s population has medical debt in collections with minority
communities disproportionately impacted. He called medical debt a
“uniquely American issue.”
“It’s preventing individuals and families from attaining financial
stability,” Pritzker said. “And, research shows it’s also having day
to day impacts for all the affected individuals like emotional
distress and difficulty meeting basic needs.”
However, a study released in April by the National Bureau of
Economic Research concluded while there is a statistical significant
reduction in payment of existing medical debt, there is “no impact
of debt relief on credit access, utilization, and financial distress
on average” and “no effect of medical debt relief on mental health
on average.”
It’s estimated nearly two million Illinoisans have more than $4
billion in medical debt.
Greg Bishop contributed to this
report.
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