Starting this fall, hundreds of residents across Cook County will receive a note in the mail bearing a simple message: Your medical debt is taken care of.
Debtors will not need to apply to get the relief, nor will that debt forgiveness count against them when they file their taxes.
Picking up the tab: Cook County government, which will pay the nonprofit group RIP Medical Debt $12 million over the next three years to buy medical debt accumulated at hospitals across Cook County for pennies on the dollar.
