Every eligible hospital in North Carolina has opted in to Gov. Roy Cooper’s medical debt relief initiative, which promises extra payments to hospitals that agree to forgive old medical debt and beef up their charity care policies, state officials said Monday.
The program calls for hospitals to wipe out about $4 billion in medical debt for nearly 2 million low- and middle-income patients across the state, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
“This will make a tremendous difference in the lives of North Carolinians,” said Cooper, a Democrat. “Unlike most other debt, medical debt is not a choice. People don’t choose to have accidents and get cancer and suffer a heart…
