{"id":9858,"date":"2023-10-12T16:21:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T16:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=9858"},"modified":"2023-10-12T19:48:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T19:48:57","slug":"local-government-mercy-health-join-forces-to-bring-financial-relief-to-area-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/12\/local-government-mercy-health-join-forces-to-bring-financial-relief-to-area-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Government, Mercy Health Join Forces to Bring Financial Relief to Area Residents"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
LC Commissioner Pete Gerken speaks as Kattie Bonds of LMH, Tony Totty of UAW Local 14, Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, Erika White of CWA and State Rep. Michele Grim look on<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Truth Staff<\/strong><\/p>\n

This week 4,917 residents of Toledo and Lucas County are receiving letters informing them that their health care debts are cancelled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great day for thousands of residents,\u201d said State Rep. Michele Grim last week at the announcement that Mercy Health and RIP Medical Debt have partnered with the City of Toledo and Lucas County to help alleviate $7.22 million worth of medical debt for area residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cMercy Health has long been supportive of programs that work to relieve community members of stresses related to medical debt and so we are pleased to be the first medical provider in northwest Ohio participating in the solutions set forth by RIP Medical Debt,\u201d said Bob Baxter, president, Mercy Health \u2013 Toledo, in a statement prior to the news conference. \u201cWith the support of out local elected officials, our patients are relieved of the financial and emotional burden related to debt and Mercy Health is able to recover a portion of that debt to ensure that we can continue to provide our community with high quality, compassionate care.\u201d<\/p>\n

RIP is a national nonprofit that uses donated funds to purchase medical debts belonging to financially burdened individuals. To date RIP has acquired \u2013 and abolished \u2013 more than $10 billion of medical debt, helping over seven mission families and addressing a major social determinant of health.<\/p>\n

\"\"
State Rep. Michele Grim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The massive relief plan is the first an American city has undertaken, said Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, and only the second time an American county has participated in such action (after Cook County, Illinois).<\/p>\n

During a Friday press conference, speakers attributed the relief plan to the efforts of Grim, a plan she put into motion while serving on Toledo City Council before being elected to the Ohio General Assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichele Grim is the most important figure in driving this debate,\u201d said Kapszukiewicz. \u201cShe elevated the issue in the civic discourse, she raised the issue locally and was a tenacious advocate.\u201d The mayor related that Grim also sought funding through the American Recovery Act and \u201csinglehandedly raised the funds.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also lauded Grim\u2019s efforts in convincing her then-City Council colleagues \u201cto do what is right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMedical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States,\u201d said Grim. \u201cWhat happens in Toledo can change America. Cleveland, Cincinnati and Akron are following the lead of what\u2019s happening in Toledo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken also praised the work of the participants in the medical debt relief plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a community investment \u2013 a three-legged stool with the county\/city involvement, RIP and Mercy Health.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, all the speakers noted that the current plan involving Mercy Health is only the beginning. \u201cI\u2019m confident others will join,\u201d said Gerken. We need more health care system partners.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Truth Staff This week 4,917 residents of Toledo and Lucas County are receiving letters informing them that their health care debts are cancelled. \u201cThis is a great day for thousands of residents,\u201d said State Rep. Michele Grim last week at the announcement that Mercy Health and RIP Medical Debt have partnered with the City […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[196],"class_list":["post-9858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9858"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9928,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9858\/revisions\/9928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9858"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=9858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}