By NextBestFitBuy and cancel existing medical debt
Purchase old medical debt in bulk (it sells for pennies on the dollar) and forgive it.
Cheap per dollar forgiven; immediate relief.
Review ledgerHow this path connects
This path
Buy and cancel existing medical debt
Creates or worsens
Concrete changes if chosen
What would actually have to change in law, agencies, payment rules, or systems.
- Appropriate funds to buy medical debt from debt buyers and hospitals
- Contract with nonprofits to buy and forgive debt
- Notify forgiven patients and credit bureaus
Effects
Each effect has its own page: the evidence, the case that it is or isn't a real cost, and whom it affects.
What it fixes
- Medical debt affects about 100 million people
Buying old medical debt in bulk at a low price and forgiving it provides immediate relief and credit repair. Debt selling for pennies on the dollar makes forgiveness inexpensive relative to the amount forgiven.
What it creates or worsens
- Solves only part of the problem
Forgiveness offers relief only once, and debt returns unless its causes change. It reaches debt sold to buyers rather than debt still held by hospitals.
Who's affected
Who gains
- Low- and middle-income households
- Medical debt affects about 100 million people: Medical debt leads them to skip care and face damaged credit and financial distress.
- People with ongoing or specialist care needs
- Medical debt affects about 100 million people: Medical debt leads them to skip care and face damaged credit and financial distress.
- Uninsured people
- Medical debt affects about 100 million people: Medical debt leads them to skip care and face damaged credit and financial distress.
- People with unaffordable deductibles or coinsurance
- Medical debt affects about 100 million people: Medical debt leads them to skip care and face damaged credit and financial distress.
Who loses
- Medical debt collectors and buyers
- Medical debt affects about 100 million people: They collect or buy medical debt.
- Hospitals, clinics, and care organizations
- Medical debt affects about 100 million people: Hospitals sell medical debt or sue to collect it.
Where it has been tried
- New York City, Cook County, and other localities: Used public funds with nonprofits to cancel billions of dollars in medical debt.
- Cook County, Illinois: By June 2025, Cook County's medical debt relief program had canceled $664.7 million in debt for 556,815 residents since its 2022 launch.Sources: Cook County Government (2025)