Letters were being mailed on Monday to about 66,000 patients in New Orleans, notifying them that the debt they collectively owe to Ochsner Health — roughly $59 million in unpaid bills for doctor visits, hospital stays, medical procedures and other services, some of it dating back years — has been erased.
The massive debt forgiveness is the result of a deal that the health system finalized with the city of New Orleans and a nonprofit organization called Undue Medical Debt, which negotiates with hospitals, doctors’ offices and ambulance services to purchase and then erase the outstanding medical bills of those least able to afford it.
The deal comes more than 18 months…
