North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (center), flanked by the state’s health secretary, Dr. Dev Sangvai (left) and an executive from Undue Medical Debt, Jose Penabad, speaks about the elimination of medical debt through an initiative involving hospitals and Medicaid in Raleigh, N.C. Gary D. Robertson/AP hide caption toggle caption Gary D. Robertson/AP After a routine trip to her mailbox, Dawn Daly-Mack almost threw away an important letter that she thought was junk mail. “I opened it up and it said, ‘Your medical bill has been paid,’” says Daly-Mack, 60, who lives in Gaston, in northeastern North Carolina. “I didn’t believe it.” The letter turned out to be legitimate. Daly-Mack is one of about 2.5 million North Carolinians whose medical debt was erased under a new statewide agreement with hospitals. The hospital wiped away her $459 debt, dating back to a 2014 emergency room visit for a sinus infection. “I was the only breadwinner in the family,” says Daly-Mack, who was caring for her disabled husband and two teenagers at the time. “I was not able …