The city of Saint Paul is using funds from the American Rescue Plan to cancel roughly $110 million in medical debt for residents.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter says the goal is to help 43,000 St. Paul residents who are struggling to pay for expenses to become medical debt-free within the year. These people are either considered to be low-income or have very high bills.

In all, St. Paul will spend $1.1 million, funded by the American Rescue Plan, to erase $110 million of medical debt city wide. But it's stories like Myers that motivate St. Paul and state leaders to do more. "There's no reason why this should stop at St. Paul," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said.

When St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter announced last year that he would dedicate $1.1 million in federal COVID relief aid to knock out up to $110 million in medical debt citywide, some scoffed. Why spend American Rescue Plan Act dollars helping to eliminate hard-to-collect funds that hospitals could just write off themselves?

Around 32,000 residents in St. Paul are expected to soon find a surprise notice in the mail announcing they've received medical debt relief from the city. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter on Tuesday announced the city has purchased and completely wiped out nearly $40 million in medical debt.

The city of St. Paul has announced that it will eliminate $100 million in unpaid medical debt for its residents, and those being offered relief will soon receive notices, as they don’t have to apply.