TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo City Council Member Michele Grim announced in a statement Tuesday she has held a proposed ordinance to spend $1.4 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to relieve medical debt to Oct. 25.
The proposal was previously pushed back to Oct. 11 at council's Sept. 27 meeting.
Grim, an at-large member of council, said it was further pushed back "to discuss possible changes with my colleagues." She cited the same reason when it was originally pushed back to Oct. 11.
"There is room for compromise. But I will not allow craven politicians to use procedural tricks to prevent a vote or to mislead the public about this ordinance to give themselves cover," her statement reads.
About 25,000 Toledo residents qualify for the proposed debt relief. Residents would be eligible if their medical debt is greater than 5 percent of their income or if they make less than four times the federal poverty level. For a household of two people, the federal poverty level is $17,420, meaning that household would need to make less than $69,680 annually to qualify for the medical debt erasure program.
If city council passes the program, the city would partner with the non-profit RIP Medical Debt to buy debt from local hospitals at a cheaper price. Just one dollar could relieve a hundred dollars worth of medical debt.
Grim said in her statement RIP Medical Debt is a "rock-solid partner" that has a "proven model that works."
"Council has heard from many community leaders and from organizations representing thousands of Toledoans urging us to make medical debt relief a part of the Toledo Recovery Plan," she said.
At council's Sept. 27 meeting, Council Member Vanice Williams, who represents district four, said she is not supportive of the proposal due to a lack of information and that city council should not "get into this game of medical debt."
"I don't feel like my constituents would benefit because it's all in the hospital's hands," Williams said. "It's up to the hospital if they want to sell their debt and it's up to the hospital what debt they sell."
Williams said her constituents stand to not benefit from the proposal if the hospitals they go to decide not to sell the debt. While she said she supports paying off medical debt, she said the money could be "impactful for" other needs in the city, like the "dilapidated" Toledo Fire & Rescue Station 16 on Dorr Street in central Toledo.
In her statement, Grim said "There are many things the city is spending federal recovery funds on that are not nearly as relevant to Toledo’s recovery. Council members approved most of that spending without so much as blinking an eye."
WTOL 11 reached out to Grim to clarify what spending, specifically, she is identifying as less relevant to the city's recovery, but we have not heard back from her.
In a response via text message, Grim declined to name any of the specific spending and said she is "not singling out any of those priorities because this isn't a choice between this and that."
