Twenty-three thousand Connecticut residents will get a Christmas gift from the state this year.
They’ll receive letters telling them that some or all their medical debts have been erased.
Gov. Ned Lamont said at a press briefing in Hartford on Monday that the state has partnered with the national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt to pay off $30 million in medical debts.
“Making sure that when you come out of the hospital, you don’t have another burden on your shoulders,” Lamont said,
He said the state invested $100,000 from its American Rescue Plan Act money to enable the nonprofit to leverage the debt relief in the first round of the arrangement.
“Everybody says that's pennies on the dollar. If I do the math in my head, that seems like one-third of a penny on the dollar,” he said.
There is no application process for debt relief. Instead, Undue Medical Debt will identify eligible residents and send them letters, beginning on Dec. 23.
