Christmas came early in Connecticut as the governor announced nearly 23,000 residents have had all or some of their medical debt wiped clean thanks to a new state initiative. Gov. Ned Lamont said on Monday his administration partnered with the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt to negotiate with hospitals and other providers to eliminate large portfolios of "qualifying medical debt" by using public investments as leverage. The governor's office said there is no application process and requests can't be made, but patients who qualify have an income that is at or below four times the federal poverty level. Or they have medical debt total that is 5% or more of their income. The Connecticut residents who have had their medical debt wiped as a result of the partnership will be notified via a letter in the mail starting Dec. 23. Officials said they invested $100,000 from the state's American Rescue Plan Act funding and through negotiations by Undue Medical Debt with a collections agency were able to eliminate $30 million in medical debt. The governor's office said this is just the first of multiple rounds of this partnership which they hope will erase more medical debt for Connecticut residents. The state also passed a law in the last year that prohibits health care providers and hospitals in Connecticut from reporting a persons medical debt to credit rating agencies for use in credit reports.