As residents stress over unpaid medical bills, Illinois pilot programs pledge to abolish $1 billion of medical debt
Fact checked by Jim Lacy
Gloria Austin knew she had a problem when a red rash, a line around her stomach, appeared, as pain ramped up. The East Garfield Park resident was 62 at the time.
After searching online, Austin realized she might have shingles. Without insurance or a primary care doctor, she turned to the emergency room at Rush University Medical Center.
By the time she arrived in September 2020 and went into triage, the pain was excruciating, she recalls.
“The first thing they want to know is if you have insurance,” Austin says. “I kept telling them on repeat, ‘I am uninsured. I can’t pay for…
