RIP Medical Debt is a Long Island City–based 501(c)(3) charity[1] focused on the elimination of personal medical debt.[2] Founded in 2014 by former debt collection executives Jerry Ashton and Craig Antico,[3] the charity purchases portfolios of income-qualifying medical debt from debt collectors and healthcare providers, and then relieves the debt.[4] The charity converts every dollar contributed into $100 of purchased medical debt relief. The founders were inspired by medical debt elimination efforts by Occupy Wall Street.[5] As of June 2022, the charity has forgiven debts for over 2,800,000 individuals and families, totaling over $5 billion.[6][7]

Media attention

The charity gained attention in 2016 when the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver used them to turn $60,000 into $15 million of debt forgiveness.[8] CBS News Sunday Morning profiled RIP Medical Debt in a long-form journalism piece by correspondent Martha Teichner in the April 16, 2023, episode of the Sunday morning television newsmagazine, in which it was stated that the non-profit charity had already extinguished more than $9.5 billion in medical debt.[9]

Examples

In January 2020, professional basketball player Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks donated $10,000 to the non-profit to abolish a total of $1,000,000 in medical debt.[10]

In December 2020, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, who was previously married to Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, donated $50 million.[11]

In May 2023, Cook County, Illinois, abolished over $280 million in medical debt through a county-wide medical debt relief program in partnership with RIP Medical Debt.[12]

In October 2023, Oakland County, Michigan, used $2,000,000 from the county's American Rescue Plan Act funding to abolish a total of $200 million in medical debt in partnership with RIP Medical Debt.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "RIP Medical Debt". Charity Navigator. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Holpuch, Amanda (2022-12-29). "Medical Debt Is Being Erased in Ohio and Illinois. Is Your Town Next?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  3. ↑ Samuel, Leah (June 6, 2016). "Inside the medical debt charity that John Oliver just made famous". Stat. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  4. ↑ Overall, Michael (26 November 2020). "A Tulsa couple we're thankful for tells us how they did it". Tulsa World. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  5. ↑ Esch, Mary (December 24, 2018). "Secret Santas: Charity buys and erases past-due medical debt". Associated Press. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  6. ↑ "RIP Medical Debt and TransUnion Healthcare Surpass $5 Billion of Medical Debt Relieved and Expand Partnership". RIP Medical Debt. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  7. ↑ "Collecting to Forgive". RIP Medical Debt. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  8. ↑ Goldman, David (June 6, 2016). "John Oliver makes 'TV history' by forgiving $15 million in medical debt". CNN Business. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  9. ↑ Teichner, Martha (2023-04-16). "RIP Medical Debt: Abolishing crippling health care debts". CBS News Sunday Morning. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  10. ↑ Habersham, Raisa (January 8, 2020). "Hawks player Trae Young cancels $1M in medical debt for Atlanta families". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  11. ↑ Paavola, Alia (December 16, 2020). "'A game changer': RIP Medical Debt gets $50M donation". Becker's Hospital Review. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Cook County Residents See Over $280M in Medical Debt Erased as Part of Medical Debt Relief Program". WTTW News. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  13. ↑ "Oakland County hopes to wipe out $200 million of medical debt for residents". www.candgnews.com. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.