A Milwaukee County plan to eliminate $153 million in medical debt through a partnership with nonprofit RIP Medical Debt will be considered by the County Board after the American Rescue Plan Act Task Force approved the resolution, NPR affiliate WUWM reported Jan. 20.
The task force was charged with designating $1.6 million in Rescue Plan Act funds for debt relief.
"We know it harms peoples' credit scores. It harms people's health. It makes people less apt to go have a doctor's visit or pursue that extra medical procedure because of the debt they already have," ARPA Task Force co-chair and Milwaukee County Supervisor Shawn Rolland told WUWM. "We know it's a social determinant of health, meaning if you have medical debt, you're more likely to have poor medical outcomes. Milwaukee County's trying to become the healthiest county in Wisconsin."