Medical Debt Is Abolished By a Charity That Works For This Purpose

(CTN News) – The letter Natasha Pempsell received in October 2021 stated: “RIP Medical Debt? That sounds like a scam!”

Her $1,500 medical debt from her son Michael’s emergency room visit in 2011 was suddenly wiped away.

These types of scams do not exist. Pempsell stated, “I understand what it means when it says ‘abolished’.”. He continued, “I just kept reading the letter over and over again. It is incredible!”

What a remarkable accomplishment! Since 2014, RIP Medical Debt has erased more than $8.5 billion in medical debt for more than 5.4 million Americans.

An unprecedented change of heart began in, of all places, New York City’s Zuccotti Park during the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests. The amount of energy I experienced was unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life, stated Jerry Ashton.

A friend and he, who are both executives in the debt collection industry, stopped by to observe the protestors. As a result of the experience, their lives were turned upside down.

In Ashton’s words, “When they discovered that there were bill collectors in Occupy Wall Street, they approached me and Craig Antico and asked: “Could you help us buy that debt, so that we can forgive it and publicize it?”

In 2014, Ashton and Antico developed RIP Medical Debt, a charity that buys up delinquent debt at pennies on the dollar, just as debt collectors do, so even small donations make a big difference.

Allison Sesso, president and CEO of RIP Debt, said that the company aims to convert $1 into at least $100 in debt relief through its for-profit debt buyer model.

In order to identify people who are 400% poverty or below [or whose debt is more than 5% of their income], we identify people with debts that are 400% poverty or below.

As it turns out, Natasha Pempsell’s $1,500 debt is about average for RIP Medical to remove. He stated, “You’d be surprised at how little money people are struggling with. We sometimes relieve debts of $500, $1,000, and $2,000.”.

Medical debt affects one in five U.S. households, according to Steffie Woolhandler, a professor at New York’s Hunter College who has studied medical debt.

In the United States, how significant is medical debt as a factor in bankruptcy filings? Teichner asked her.

Woolhandler responded, “The majority of bankruptcies in the United States are caused by medical conditions and medical bills.”.

What is the total amount of medical debt in the country?  As compared to RIP’s elimination of $8.5 billion of medical debt, the amount of medical debt is between $80 billion and $120 billion.

The health care system produces more unpayable debt than we can handle. RIP is not the solution. RIP is a charity that cleans up after the parade.

In the words of Natasha Pempsell, “It is disheartening when you work hard and contribute to society, pay your taxes, and are a law-abiding citizen, and then something tragic happens to you or your children.”

In Pempsell’s opinion, RIP Medical Debt has achieved a kind of miracle: “It gives hope to anyone who is doubting that there is still good in the world.”

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