ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s a first for the state of Florida. 

Orange County will spend $4.5 million of unused pandemic relief funds to eliminate medical debt for thousands of residents. 

Over 150,000 individuals could be eligible for relief by the end of this year.

Among those hopeful for assistance is Eimear Roy, a resident of Orlando.

Eimear Roy and her family are still recovering from the pandemic. Since 2019, she’s accumulated $15,000 in medical debt.  

“I’ve had one, two, three urgent care visits amongst the household. It’s only been a couple of months,” Roy said.

She lost her job and developed long COVID. 

“Just getting out of bed is painful these days. My chronic illnesses have worsened because of the lack of care and that’s why it’s wonderful that we hopefully get all of this debt wiped,” said Roy. 

Despite this newfound hope, the challenges facing the family remain. 

“I’m trying to keep myself alive and trying to make an income,” Roy said. 

Roy is doing everything she can, actively searching for jobs as she awaits news on the status of her medical debt. 

Undue Medical Debt will clear up debt from Orlando Health and Advent Health. 

This isn’t a program that people can apply for, rather, people will be notified of debt abolishment.

“We will send them letters and let them know we have bought their debt, and they will be relieved of that debt. That will help thousands of people at one time,” CEO of Undue Medical Debt Allison Sesso said. 

According to Undue Medical Debt, they buy debt if residents meet two criteria. 

One, if they’re four times below the federal poverty line or if they have a large debt relative to their income. 

“We’ve relieved $13 billion in medical debt across the United States to date, helping over eight million people,” Sesso said.