A new law in Hawaiʻi could wipe out up to $91 million in medical debt for tens of thousands of residents, part of a broader push to make health care more accessible before costs spiral out of control.
At two separate bill-signing events, Gov. Josh Green approved the debt proposal along with bills focused on colorectal cancer screening and fertility-preservation coverage.
What happened?
According to KWXX, Green signed Senate Bill 3025 and two House measures aimed at reducing the costs people face when getting medical care in Hawaiʻi.
The central debt-relief measure, SB 3025, tells Hawaiʻi's Office of Wellness and Resilience — now within the Department of Human Services — to create a Medical Debt Acquisition and Forgiveness Program. If lawmakers provide the money, the governor's office said the program could buy and erase medical debt for up to 50,000 residents.
The governor's office said the total amount forgiven could reach $91 million. The model is similar to programs already operating in 27 other U.S. cities and states, where a nonprofit buys debt from health care providers for far less than its face value and then eliminates it.
Green also signed House Bill 1864, which, according to the governor's office, requires many insurers to cover routine fertility-preservation care for patients undergoing treatment that could cause infertility, and House Bill 1969, which broadens access to colorectal cancer screening and follow-up colonoscopies.
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Why does it matter?
Medical debt often affects people long after they leave the hospital. The governor's office estimates that about 1 in 20 Hawaiʻi residents has medical debt on their credit report, which can make it harder to protect a credit score or secure housing and employment, KWXX reported.
Worries about price can also push people to postpone care. If a test, procedure, or doctor visit feels unaffordable, patients may wait until the problem is worse, raising both the medical risk and the eventual cost.
According to the governor's office, colorectal cancer ranks as Hawaiʻi's second-leading cause of cancer-related death and kills around 260 people each year. The new screening measure helps uninsured and underinsured residents access testing and requires certain insurance plans to cover needed follow-up colonoscopies after a positive screening without patient cost-sharing.
For patients facing chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery, the fertility preservation law addresses a different question: whether lifesaving treatment could also take away the ability to build a family later.
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What's being done?
The debt relief program still needs funding and implementation, but the legal framework now exists. State officials said the arrangement could allow participating health care providers to recover some money from old unpaid accounts while giving residents a way to shed long-standing medical bills.
According to the governor's office, the fertility preservation law will take effect for insurance policies, contracts, plans, and agreements issued or renewed after Dec. 31, 2026. With the measure, Hawaiʻi joins 21 other states in offering this kind of protection for patients whose treatment may cause iatrogenic infertility.
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