Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Just one medical emergency–an ambulance ride, surgery, or extended hospital stay–can set off a financial domino effect. Due to medical debt.
Even insured families face steep deductibles, copays, and denied claims. When medical bills rise, choices are made: pay rent or settle a doctor’s bill? And when rent gets postponed too often, eviction can loom.
Beyond potential eviction, medical debt can also negatively affect credit scores, which limits access to safe and affordable housing in the future.
What’s Being Done to Help
While no single city can eliminate this kind of debt entirely, local institutions and nonprofit agencies are taking steps to prevent the cascade from hospital bills to homelessness.
Founded in 2014 by former debt collection executives, Undue Medical Debt is one of the leading charitable organizations that help pay medical bills. Their mission: “Buy and erase the medical debts of everyday people–freeing them from the undue burden of medical bills they can’t afford.”
The City of Cincinnati partnered with Undue Medical Debt, to implement a medical debt relief program. The city allocated $1.45 million to the program in part to address the city’s wealth gap. City studies showed that 1 in 3 citizens have medical debt.
Together they have successfully forgiven nearly $220 million in debt for approximately 120,000 residents, significantly impacting our community.
Local Hospital & Health System Assistance Programs
TriHealth (Cincinnati area) offers a Financial Assistance Program using sliding scales. Patients at or below certain income thresholds may receive discounts of 80–100% for eligible medical services.
The Christ Hospital Health Network provides financial counseling, self-pay discounts, and offers 100%, 75%, or 50% assistance depending on income relative to federal poverty guidelines
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has a formal policy: families at or under 200% of the federal poverty level may get 100% discount, those between 200–300% may receive 75%, and if uninsured, they offer automatic discounts and further reductions based on application.
Why it Matters
The journey from a hospital bill to homelessness can happen faster than we expect. But by connecting health care, housing, and social services, local institutions in Cincinnati and Hamilton County are building lifelines.
Together, we can help more families stay housed.
The post Medical Debt: From hospital bills to homelessness appeared first on Strategies to End Homelessness.