Columbus City Leadership
Columbus City Can Eliminate Medical Debt
Protect Our Families.
Eliminate Medical Debt.
Medical debt should not determine whether a family can stay housed, access care, or build financial stability. Yet for thousands of Franklin County residents, medical debt continues to follow them long after a hospital visit ends.
Medical debt is not the result of irresponsibility. For many residents, this undue burden is caused by emergencies beyond their control. It is the result of a health care system that forces people to choose between their health and their financial future. Families are being sued, wages are being garnished, and residents are being denied housing and credit because of medical bills they never anticipated and could not afford.
In late 2023, the Columbus City Council demonstrated real leadership by partnering with Central Ohio hospitals to forgive $335 million in medical debt for eligible residents. That initiative proved that medical debt relief is effective, legal, and achievable when the city chooses to lead.
We are calling on the City of Columbus to build on that progress.
Columbus has the ability to act.
We are calling on the City of Columbus to build on that progress.
We ask that Mayor Ginther and the Columbus City Council pass a resolution committing $50,000 to eliminate at least $500,000 in undue medical debt for Franklin County residents.