TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo City Council pushed back the vote on a proposal to spend $1.4 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to relieve medical debt to Oct. 11 at Tuesday's meeting.
"I held it for two weeks because I'm still working ongoing conversations with my colleagues and trying to get in those questions they may have," the proposal's sponsor, at-large Council Member Michele Grim, said.
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.
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.
Grim said she does not anticipate anything about the proposal changing before the vote on Oct. 11.