Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Cook County’s Medical Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) has successfully acquired and abolished a total of $281.3 million in medical debt to benefit 158,541 Cook County residents since the program launched in 2022. The most recent round of debt abolishment was made possible by UChicago Medicine. Cook County worked with its program administrator RIP Medical Debt, a national non-profit, to purchase medical debt from UChicago Medicine and forgive $173.7 million for 85,060 patients who received care at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Hyde Park, the University of Chicago Physicians Group or UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, IL. On average, each UChicago Medicine patient saw $2,043 in debt relief, with over 75 percent of patient households reporting annual incomes below $51,000. The program is funded by $12 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars. To administer MDRI, Cook County partners with RIP Medical Debt, a national, independent 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Through the partnership, RIP Medical Debt contacts hospitals and health systems serving Cook County and negotiates the sale or donation of portfolios of medical debt. Individuals who qualify for medical debt abolishment through MDRI must live in Cook County, have incomes up to 400 percent of the current Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG), or have medical debt that is 5 percent or more of their annual income. Medical debt abolishment cannot be requested by an individual. Eligible patients will have debt erased without taking any action. Recipients are notified by mail that their debts have been relieved, and any negative marks on their credit reports associated with this debt are removed. To learn more about MDRI, go to arpa.cookcountyil.gov/medical-debt-relief-initiative