Another more than $200 million in medical debt has been wiped out for Arizonans. And the recipients are going to know who to thank: Gov. Katie Hobbs.
The new figure was announced Monday by Allison Sasso. She’s the president and CEO of Undue Medical Debt, a company that agreed earlier this year to use some $10 million in state American Rescue Plan COVID relief dollars to buy up medical debt from hospitals and doctors for a few pennies on the dollar, eliminating a negative mark on the credit reports of those who racked up the bills.
All totaled, according to the governor’s office, the program has so far erased $642 million owed by more than 485,000 Arizonans.
The beautiful thing about this kind of policy is: it’s almost impossible to get the public against it once it happens. Even with the near total control of MAGA on the minds of its base, getting people to openly harm themselves – specifically in the face of counterevidence, not without it – is a hard sell.
And yes, it’s not a complete fix. But don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress. We have done that far too long.