Medical Debt Relief Act Resources

During the 2024 legislative session, the General Assembly passed the Medical Debt Relief Act (Public Act 103-0647). The Medical Debt Relief Act requires the Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) to establish a Medical Debt Relief pilot program meant to discharge the medical debt of eligible Illinois residents. An eligible resident is an Illinois resident with a household income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level or who has medical debt equal to 5% or more of their household income. 

Under the program, HFS must provide grant funding to a nonprofit medical debt relief coordinator to negotiate and settle, to the extent possible, the medical debt of eligible residents owed to hospitals and other healthcare providers and entities, including providers located outside of Illinois. HFS is working with Undue Medical Debt, an organization that purchases outstanding medical debt from participating providers.

In an effort to provide Illinois hospitals and health systems with information on this voluntary program, IHA hosted a webinar with HFS and Undue Medical Debt on Oct. 3. Resources from the Oct. 3 webinar, including slides, a summary of frequently asked questions and other relevant information, are available in the IHA C-Suite. To access the C-Suite, you must log in as a member to the IHA website. The C-Suite tab will appear automatically at the top, and the medical debt relief program documents are located in the “General” folder. 

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