Medical debt erased for 1,864 Bristol and Plymouth county residents in a $38 million nonprofit round
Who qualifies, what the Undue Medical Debt letter looks like, what to do with it and how to tell a real one from a scam.
SOUTH COAST Nearly 1,900 people in Bristol and Plymouth counties are having medical debt wiped out in a $38 million round of relief for almost 70,000 Massachusetts residents, and none of them has to apply or do anything to get it, the groups behind it said.
The relief covers 664 Bristol County residents, whose debts erased total $301,000, and 1,200 Plymouth County residents, whose debts total $516,000, the Atrius Health Equity Foundation, Undue Medical Debt and the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association said Oct. 22. Statewide, 69,527 low- and middle-income residents are getting more than $38 million erased, in amounts from $5 to $86,000 a person.
Most of the relief goes to Essex County, with 34,369 people and $18.6 million, and Middlesex County, with 28,756 people and $16.7 million. The rest goes to residents of Suffolk, Norfolk and Barnstable counties along with the two South Coast counties.
How people find out
Patients get the news in an envelope from Undue Medical Debt, which the groups said would start arriving in mailboxes the week of Oct. 26. The letter says some or all of a person's medical debt is being erased. People who get one do not need to take any action, and negative marks on their credit reports are removed where they apply, the announcement said.
A sample letter the foundation posts online lists the total debt erased, the hospitals or clinics owed, the account numbers and the dates of service, and tells people to keep the letter and show it as proof if needed. It also says Undue is not erasing any other medical debt the person may owe. The foundation posts the sample in English, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Vietnamese and Chinese.
Undue says the relief does not count as income and that it will not file a Form 1099-C with the IRS. Anyone who loses the letter can get a copy by sending Undue a full name and address, the group says, and the sample letter tells anyone who believes a listed debt was already paid or was never theirs to contact Undue at UndueMedicalDebt.org/respond.
Who qualifies
The relief goes to people who earn at or below four times the federal poverty level, which the groups put at $63,840 a year for one person and $132,000 for a family of four, or whose medical debt equals 5% or more of their yearly income. There is no application, and the relief cannot be requested. People are picked automatically when they meet the income test and their debt is available for purchase through a partner such as a hospital or collection agency.
Undue buys past-due medical debt in large bundles for pennies on the dollar after providers have tried to collect, then erases the share owed by the people least able to pay. The foundation says that on average $1 erases $100 of debt. The groups said this round was made possible by a partnership that also included "a blend of health providers and secondary market partners in Massachusetts," and that there is no guarantee of future relief.
"Medical debt not only impacts families' long-term financial future, but also makes people reluctant to seek care," said Dr. Ann Hwang, president of the Atrius Health Equity Foundation. "Our hope is that the patients and families across Eastern Massachusetts aided by this debt relief can move forward without this burden."
"Eliminating medical debt gives people a meaningful fresh start and ensures that getting the care they need doesn't come at the cost of their economic security and mental health," said Allison Sesso, president and CEO of Undue Medical Debt.
How to spot a scam
Undue says its real messages always point to its own website, https://unduemedicaldebt.org, and it advises people to type that address into a browser themselves instead of clicking a link in an email, even one that looks like it came from Undue. It warns that misspellings in a web address, spelling errors on a page and urgent demands, threats or promises of quick rewards are warning signs. Anyone who gets a suspicious email should not answer it, click its links or give out personal or financial information, and can forward the email or web address to info@unduemedicaldebt.org, the group says.
How we got here
The foundation started the partnership in 2024, and with this round the groups say it has erased more than $293 million in medical debt. In June, the same partners announced relief for more than 140,000 Massachusetts residents totaling more than $170 million, with some recipients in Bristol and Plymouth counties. The groups say one in eight Massachusetts residents holds medical debt.
For people whose debts were not part of this round, the foundation points to Health Law Advocates, a nonprofit law firm that gives free legal help to low-income residents facing medical bills, and to Health Care For All. In one case the foundation describes, a Bristol County man in his 40s faced nearly $16,000 in uncovered services after his employer-sponsored health plan denied the claims because he also had Medicare coverage. Health Law Advocates determined the private plan should have paid as secondary coverage, and the plan reversed the denials and covered the bills in full.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the groups' own published documents: the Oct. 22 announcement by the Atrius Health Equity Foundation, Undue Medical Debt and the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, posted on both the Undue and foundation websites; Undue's June 25 announcement and its FAQ pages; and the foundation's medical debt page and the sample letter it posts, all read on Oct. 29. County figures are the groups' own; the seven county counts they list add up to 69,523, four fewer than the 69,527 total they give. Not heard: we are asking the groups which South Coast hospitals or providers sold debt in this round, how the Bristol and Plymouth figures break down by town and which languages the October letters were sent in, and will add their replies. No other news outlet is a source for this story.
Corrections
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Sources (6)
- Undue Medical Debt: More Than $38 Million in Medical Debt Erased for Nearly 70,000 Massachusetts Residents Through Unique, Nonprofit PartnershipJoint announcement of the Atrius Health Equity Foundation, Undue Medical Debt and the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, dated Oct. 22, 2026; county counts and totals, eligibility, letters, quotes. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Atrius Health Equity Foundation: $38M Medical Debt Erased Press Release (2026)Same release on the foundation site, dated Oct. 22, 2026. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Atrius Health Equity Foundation: Eliminating Medical DebtHow it works ($1 erases about $100), sample letters in six languages, legal help, consumer stories (names changed by the foundation). Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Undue Medical Debt sample relief letter (standard, March 2025), posted by the Atrius Health Equity FoundationPlaceholder name; what the letter lists, keep it as proof, only listed debts erased, UndueMedicalDebt.org/respond. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Undue Medical Debt: Unprecedented $170 Million in Medical Debt Erased for More Than 140,000 Massachusetts Residents Through Unique Non-profit PartnershipDated June 25, 2026. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Undue Medical Debt: FAQs (who qualifies, applying, taxes, lost letters, phishing)Pages: who-qualifies-for-debt-relief, can-i-apply-for-debt-relief, do-recipients-of-debt-forgiveness-have-any-adverse-consequences, i-lost-my-debt-relief-envelope-from-rip, how-can-i-protect-myself-from-phishing-scams, what-should-i-do-if-i-suspect-a-phishing-attempt. Read Oct. 29, 2026.