Two Women Erased $1.5 Million of Strangers' Medical Debt Just Because They Felt Like It

[babylonsister]

https://jezebel.com/two-women-erased-1-5-million-of-strangers-medical-debt-1830888079?utm_medium=socialflow&utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&fbclid=IwAR0JAcNdJ49apkI7zW4FnGVjJcg-yf7GJQy-LRWXF3taxfC651GSEY7CRIM

Two Women Erased $1.5 Million of Strangers' Medical Debt Just Because They Felt Like It
Frida Garza
Today 4:15pm


Judith Jones and Carolyn Kenyon are two New Yorkers who are passionate about the New York Health Act, a bill that would bring universal health care to the state. Jones and Kenyon are 80 and 70 years old, respectively, but according to the New York Times, they didn’t want to just wait around for that to happen—so they rallied their friends and neighbors and raised $12,500 for the non-profit R.I.P. Medical Debt.

R.I.P. Medical Debt buys up people’s old medical bills and forgives them. With Jones and Kenyon’s donation, the organization bought up $1.5 million in medical debts, belonging to thousands of people in need across New York. The non-profit focuses on alleviating the debts of those who really cannot afford to pay their bills, like those who earn less than two times the federal poverty level.

Coolest of all is that Jones and Kenyon did not just convince people to throw in some money, but tried to educate them on how medical debt can take over people’s lives. “We tried to get people interested in the seriousness of medical debt,” Jones said, “and lead them to understand that when the New York Health Act passes, that will be the end of medical debt because everyone will be covered.”

Here, here. And while R.I.P. Medical Debt can’t make it so that people don’t have disgustingly high hospital bills to begin with, it’s nice to see two sensible ladies take up the issue in their community and have an effect on 1,284 New Yorkers’ lives. The bar for being that bitch has just been raised.

[Loryn]

1. I love this!

[dewsgirl]

2. This makes me so happy.🤗

[Mr.Bill]

3. There should be a law

that before anyone sells medical debt to a collection agency for pennies on the dollar they have to offer to let the person with the debt pay it off for whatever the collection agency was going to buy it for. The only loser would be the collection agency.

[erronis]

5. That'd solve most of the problems. Good idea.

[Control-Z]

21. That is such a great idea! (eom)

[PatrickforO]

4. John Oliver has done this, too. n/t

[ZeroSomeBrains]

7. I remember that episode

There's so much debt in this society. I'm blessed to have a good degree with just a car payment and two credit cards. I save constantly in case of a medical emergency. This type of debt forgiveness is so necessary in this society where so many have so little and are living day to day.

[crazycatlady]

6. Not all heroes wear capes

[a kennedy]

8. and there are lot secret santa's paying debts of others....

LOVE THIS......

[erronis]

9. Medical debt is usually because hospitals/doctors/labs charge the non-insured

at "charge-master" rates. These rates are just some arbitrary top-end amount that some actuary/accountant thought they _might_ get away with.

People with insurance pay a totally different/lower rate based on what the insurer and the provider agree upon.

Most hospitals/providers have a built-in "loss" factor because they know that some patients won't pony up. These loss factors are built into their rates when applying to state/federal agencies.

It's a strange world when the medical providers (doctors/hospitals/labs) need to make money off the backs of people that can least afford it.

It's a crazy world when health insurance is tied to employment. This is a vestige from WW-II wage freezes. Does not make any sense at all.

[liberalhistorian]

14. Being insured does not mean

having no medical debt. Most insured have co-pays and deductibles and both can be very high, especially for surgeries, or critical/chronic illnesses and especially for needed prescription medicines. In fact, a high percentage of bankruptcies due to medical debt are filed by the insured. If you or a family member have cancer or a major disability or a similar issue, you could easily have tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of dollars in co-pays and deductibles.

And just because people can't pay doesn't mean that they can't lose whatever they have to the medical-industrial complex, especially the hospitals who pay their executives millions while using the legal system to squeeze every penny they can from those who can least afford it.

[erronis]

17. You are right. And insurance is covering less all the time. Watch out for those new plans

trumpeded to ease the burden imposed by Obama Care. They won't cover anywhere near as much and the debts will climb even more.

[BigmanPigman]

10. Wow! We need to clone these two.

[eggplant]

11. I think this is great. But...

According to the IRS, discharged debt can easily be considered as income, and thus subject to tax. The rules are complicated.

*I'm not a tax advisor. YMMV.

[rickyhall]

12. I wonder if such debt might contribute to the high suicide rates in the US.

If you believe you'll never be free you might just give up

[liberalhistorian]

15. Sadly, I believe both medical and student loan

debt are contributors to that.

[Demovictory9]

13. wonderful.

[liberalhistorian]

16. In civilized society, there would be no such thing

as medical debt (or student loan debt, for that matter, but that's another thread). There would be no such thing as medical bankruptcies and there would be no such thing as people losing houses and often the only assets they have for the "crime" of an illness or injury and the resulting debt.

But Congress doesn't give a shit because they're one of the very few groups in this society who do NOT ever have to worry about medical debt, medical bankruptcy or medical foreclosures.

[erronis]

18. That is one thing the new Democratic House can make happen.

Make the US Congress as well as the rest of the government have to use the normal insurance paths. Commercial, TriCare, Medicare, and Medicaid. Let them all fight the bureaucracy - that's when some progress will be made.

[liberalhistorian]

20. That would be great if they could do that, but

there's no guarantee.

[argyl]

19. Bless these two caring women.

This shouldn't be necessary but these wonderful women have made a number of people's lives much more liveable.

[Sentath]

22. Or if you don't want to give FB your browsing history (and how they did it)

https://jezebel.com/two-women-erased-1-5-million-of-strangers-medical-debt-1830888079

Edited to add: How Awesome!

and, a link to the method by which they did it. https://www.ripmedicaldebt.org/