But some of those people have seen much more lopped off their bills, including one individual who received $300,000 in debt relief, it said.

"No one should be forced to choose between life-saving care and feeding their families, which is why we launched the Illinois Medical Debt relief program," Pritzker said in the release. “As part of my Affordability Agenda, we’ve helped a half million Illinoisans in every corner of the state and relieved $1 billion in medical debt. With (President Donald) Trump’s policies wreaking havoc on working families, impactful programs like this are more important than ever before."

The state program is among the largest debt erasure efforts in the nation involving several local health systems.

The Illinois Medical Debt Relief Program is operated in partnership with Undue Medical Debt, a national nonprofit that purchases bundled medical debts — often for pennies on the dollar.

The purchased medical debt bundles come mostly from health systems and secondary debt markets.

The state’s contribution to eliminating the $1 billion in debt has been about $10 million, the release said — meaning that for every $1 in state funds, $100 in debt has been erased.

Illinois will continue to use the remaining program funds — approximately $5 million — to acquire and relieve outstanding, unpayable medical debt, the release said.

Cook County is operating its own debt relief program with Undue and as of last year said it’s canceled $655 million in medical debt for residents.

Pritzker touted the program’s efforts in combating medical debt, one of the leading causes of bankruptcy nationwide.

The program covers past owed bills for residents with documented financial need.

Residents do not need to apply to the state program to be eligible for relief. They must be be Illinois residents with a household income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, or with medical debts equal to 5% or more of their annual household income.

"Among the patients who benefit from the program are those who have been treated at Advent Midwest Health, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Loyola Medicine, University of Chicago Medicine, the Vituity physician group and more," the press release said.

Only qualifying medical debts sold from participating partners, such as hospitals and health systems, are eligible for relief.

Pritzker said the program is increasingly important as health care costs and insurance premiums rise and the state faces "severe rollback of affordable health care options due to Trump’s budget bill."

The release said that, while Illinois does not allow medical debt to impact people’s credit scores "the Trump administration is actively working to prevent states from barring medical debt from credit scores and reports — hindering economic mobility for people struggling with medical debt."