- Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, has highlighted his work in Detroit and Wayne County prominently in US Senate bid
- His efforts to erase $700 million in Wayne County medical debt have made progress, but the program has only settled $57.38 million so far
- As a public health director, El-Sayed also prioritized free glasses for students, access to Narcan, air quality and lead removal in schools
In stump speeches, debates and statewide ads, Michigan Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed frequently touts his experience as a Wayne County health director, where he worked to ease the burden of medical debt on residents who couldn’t afford to pay.
“$700 million medical debt erased,” his campaign’s first major TV ad proclaims. In a June forum, he called the county’s work on medical debt relief “the biggest medical debt erasure in Michigan state history.”
While the program, launched under El-Sayed in 2024, does seek to erase up to $700 million in medical debt for 300,000 residents by buying it from providers at a bulk discount, that hasn’t happened yet…