According to the governor’s office, nearly 23,000 Connecticut residents will soon receive a letter in the mail informing them that their medical debt has been partially or fully discharged.

This applies to patients whose income is four times the federal poverty level or less or whose medical debt is 5 percent or more of their income. The current federal poverty level is an annual income of $31,200 or less for a family of four.

Gov. Ned Lamont said this is part of a new partnership with a national nonprofit that uses public investments to negotiate with hospitals and other providers to eliminate past-due medical debt for people and families.

According to the governor’s office, there is no application process for medical debt relief.

Residents whose debts are to be forgiven will receive a letter from Undue Medical Debt indicating which debts have been eliminated. (See a sample letter below.)

Letters in this first round will be delivered by mail starting December 23rd.

In February, the governor’s office said Connecticut would become the first state to implement a plan that would forgive medical debt for thousands of people nationwide under a state law.

This is the first of several expected rounds of medical debt elimination through this partnership, the governor’s office said.

Lamont said he and the Connecticut General Assembly worked together to provide $6.5 million in ARPA funding for this initiative and his administration intends to continue working with Undue Medical Debt for additional rounds of medical debt elimination.

Here is an example of the letter: