North Carolina wiped out more than $6.5 billion in hospital medical debt for about 2.5 million residents through the Medical Debt Relief Program. New data from the state Department of Health and Human Services shows this. All 99 acute care hospitals in the state joined the initiative.
The program uses Medicaid funds to pay back participating hospitals in exchange for wiping out existing debt and putting in place reforms to keep patients from building up new bills. The relief covers unpaid hospital bills going back to 2014.
Mecklenburg County has seen the most relief. Atrium Health and Novant Health wiped out more than $1 billion in patient debt there. ECU Health Medical Center in Pitt County got rid of about $585 million in debt for roughly 270,000 people. Forsyth County hospitals have provided over $500 million in debt relief, while Wake County has seen just over $100 million…