In New Orleans —
About 193,000 low-income patients have $366 million in medical debt, and a New Orleans-based healthcare system that serves Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana is collaborating with a New York nonprofit to pay it off.
On Wednesday, the Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate uncovered that the arrangement involving Ochsner Health was orchestrated by Undue Medical Debt.
This nonprofit, which receives funding from donors, negotiates with healthcare providers (such as hospitals, doctors’ offices, and ambulance services) to acquire and cancel the outstanding medical debt of individuals who are financially disadvantaged.
With 370 clinics and urgent services, 46 hospitals, and service to three states, Ochsner is the biggest health system in Louisiana.
In a statement, “Ochsner is proud to have worked with Undue Medical Debt to enable the organization to acquire and cancel past one-time debts for eligible residents,” the business said.
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This settlement comes after an announcement on Monday that Ochsner, Undue Medical Debt, and the city of New Orleans had reached an agreement to forgive about $59 million in medical debts incurred by around 66,000 patients in that city.
Under the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, a pandemic program, the city had already consented to give $1.3 million to Undue Medical Debt so that they could acquire qualified debt and cancel it.
“The municipal government gets a lot of credit for starting the ball going,” said Daniel Lempert, vice president for communications and marketing at the charity. “As soon as we were able to show the hospital our model, additional debts were eligible for the program.”
Lempert stated that his group bought out Ochsner’s debt using funds acquired from donations and grassroots fundraising efforts on a national and regional scale, in addition to the funds provided by the pandemic.
He wouldn’t provide the exact amount, but it would have been close to $3.6 million if the organization’s claims about its normal payments were to be believed (about one cent for every dollar of debt).
