Hospitals across the state have signed up for North Carolina's new medical debt relief program

All 99 eligible hospitals have signed on to North Carolina’s new medical debt relief program. 

According to the state, the program will relieve nearly 2 million North Carolinians of a collective $4 billion worth of medical debt. 

Dr. Marty Makary is an expert on health care finance transparency, a surgeon and professor at Johns Hopkins University. He said North Carolina’s new program is part of a rising trend in hospitals forgiving debt, and perhaps ceding to the idea the practice is untenable. 

"Many people argue that the medical debt forgiveness done by hospitals is just accepting a well-known truth and that is they’re not gonna make any money on holding this debt over people," Makary said. "It’s expensive to try to collect on it and they're just doing what is already the obvious and that is recognizing that this is money they need to write off."

Some of the largest hospitals in the area like Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center and Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital have signed up for the program. 

In return, they will receive increased Medicaid reimbursements.

According to the DHHS, there are approximately 400,000 Piedmont Triad residents who owe around $10 million in medical debt. 

Per the state, all individuals enrolled in Medicaid with medical debt dating back to Jan. 1, 2014, will have their debt forgiven. Individuals not enrolled in Medicaid may still be eligible for relief. 

For more details, visit the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Santiago Ochoa covers healthcare for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. Follow him on X: @santi8a98