MUSKEGON, Mich. — A nonprofit in Muskegon County formed a two-year partnership with a national nonprofit that aims to help community members in need get rid of their medical debt.
Access Health says it has supported the health of Muskegon County for more than 23 years by providing affordable, quality health coverage for workers who do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford traditional health insurance.
Meanwhile, RIP Medical Debt is the only nonprofit using donated funds to buy and eliminate medical debts belonging to people in need nationwide.
The two organizations hope this partnership will accomplish the following:
- Bring local hospitals to the table to: identify opportunities for policy reform so RIP can acquire qualifying medical debts (belonging to those four times the federal poverty level or below, or those whose debt is five percent or more of their gross annual income) and then eliminate those debts for Michiganders.
- Better understand which community members are vulnerable to medical debt to test and expand local solutions.
- Foster conversations with community members and employers to both increase community understanding of health plan selection and identify barriers to access affordable coverage.
“Access Health is excited about the opportunity this partnership provides for our community. Through our health coverage model and local partnerships, we’ve been able to ensure that our members can access care without the risk of debt, but we know that medical debt is a significant barrier for many families in our community. Our partnership with RIP allows us to continue expanding the impact of our work. Together, we will partner to abolish medical debt, gain a better understanding of local causes of medical debt and work towards upstream solutions that address root cause.”
Access Health will announce medical debt relief before notifying residents via letters in the mail.
The nonprofit says medical debt elimination is random and based on qualifying accounts RIP can acquire.
Access Health also plans to launch a 100-day Livability Lab action team to better understand local drivers of medical debt and explore potential strategies for sustainable change.
“In order to make systemic change with an intractable problem like medical debt we need experienced and established partners. Access Health has a proven track record of improving health outcomes for its community and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them on one of our first community health initiatives. Together we will not only abolish medical debt, but also strive to staunch the flow of new debt and learn about the human impact of this $195 billion crisis.”
