The Pennsylvania House passed a bill that would relieve medical debt for low-income residents, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Four things to know:
1. This legislation requires the state to competitively procure and contract with a medical debt relief coordinator to both purchase and discharge medical debt owed by eligible residents. Those eligible would be those who have a household income below 400 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, or have medical debt equal to 5 percent or more of their household income.
2. The bill does not specify how much would be spent on the program, according to the report. The initial proposal carried a $15 million price tag, but that figure was later removed. Budget negotiations will determine how much will be spent.
3. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Arvind Venkat, MD, an emergency room physician, said there is about $4 billion in medical debt for about 1 million residents who would qualify for relief, according to the report. Because medical debt is discharged for pennies on the dollar, he estimated it would cost about $40 million to eliminate that debt but said it makes more sense for the state to act incrementally than attempt to relieve all the debt at once.
4. The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration.