medical debt

18 Stories

New Legislation Would Cancel Americans' Medical Debt

Consumers owe billions, with many of them expressing no hope of every paying it off

(Newser) - Studies have shown that millions of Americans owe a combined $220 billion in medical debt, with 1 in 5 adults saying they don't expect to ever be able to pay off the bills. A group of congressional Democrats on Wednesday proposed knocking the amount down to zero. "People...

Their Medical Debt Was Erased. It Didn't Do Much Good

Study finds the recipients' lives didn't meaningfully improve on a number of fronts

(Newser) - It's a somewhat counterintuitive finding: Wiping out medical debt with a face value of $169 million for 83,401 people didn't improve their mental health or credit scores on average. So finds a study published Monday as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper. The researchers tell...

New York City to Cancel $2B in Debt for 500K People

City will team up with RIP Medical Debt to do so

(Newser) - New York City intends to wipe out more than $2 billion in medical debt for up to 500,000 residents, tackling a top cause of personal bankruptcy, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday. The city is working with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that buys medical debt in bulk from hospitals...

Dying Woman Wipes Out Medical Debt of Others

Casey McIntyre wrote a plea to be posted after her death

(Newser) - "If you're reading this I have passed away," Casey McIntyre asked to have posted to social media when the time came. The note went up Monday on Instagram . In it, McIntyre wrote, "I've arranged to buy up others' medical debt and then destroy the debt"...

Toledo Plans to Use $1.6M to Wipe Out $240M in Medical Debt

Ohio city is working with nonprofit that buys old debts from hospitals

(Newser) - "Washington might not have a plan for medical debt relief, but Toledo, Ohio, does," says Dr. Michele Grim, a city council member who led an effort to forgive up to $240 million in medical debt—for a lot less than $240 million. The council has passed a measure...

Medical Debt Study Lands on Stunning Number

Nearly 1 in 5 Americans had medical debt that was in collections in June 2020

(Newser) - How much of our medical debt do you think is in the hands of debt collectors? A 2016 study put the figure at $81 billion—and new research says that's way off. A paper published Tuesday in JAMA made use of 10% of all credit reports from TransUnion and...

Doctor Wipes Out $650K His Patients Owe Him

Oncologist was always troubled by the strain caused by medical debt

(Newser) - Over nearly 30 years, thousands of patients were treated at the Arkansas Cancer Clinic. No one was turned away for financial reasons, but the bills patients were left with troubled Dr. Omar Atiq. "I've always been rather uncomfortable with sick patients not only having to worry about their...

Church Cancels $46M in Debt for 45K Families

Crossroads Church teams up with RIP Medical Debt to abolish debt

(Newser) - Imagine having all your medical debt paid off, out of the blue. Now imagine a church paying off $46.5 million in said debt for over 45,000 families. That's pretty much the story as Crossroads Church in Cincinnati works with RIP Medical Debt to eliminate debts for residents...

Thousands Are About to Get a $2.7M Letter of 'Love'
Thousands Are About to
Get a $2.7M Letter of 'Love'
in case you missed it
Sep 22, 2019 7:03 AM CDT

Thousands Are About to Get a $2.7M Letter of 'Love'

Dallas-area church raised the funds to pay off medical debt for locals

(Newser) - Close to 2,400 families in two Texas counties will get a letter this week that will lift their hearts, but also (and more importantly) relieve their wallets. What that note will inform them, per FOX 4 News : that a Dallas-area church has raised enough money—almost $2.7 million...

A $15K Donation Just Wiped Out $1.8M in Medical Debt

A Michigan church reaches out to help 1.9K families in its area

(Newser) - A single congregation has paid the medical debts of 1,899 Michigan families living at or below the poverty line, who will learn the good news this week. The medical debts owed by the West Michigan families across four counties "has been paid in full as a result of...

Church's Easter Gift to Residents Is Worth $2.2M

Kansas church paid off medical debt for pennies on the dollar

(Newser) - It was a very happy Easter for 1,600 Kansans, all of whom had their medical debt paid off by a Wichita church. Pathway Church paid off $2.2 million in debt, KAKE reports. It explained why on Facebook Monday: "This Easter, we sent a special piece of mail...

2 Women Wiped Out $1.5M in Medical Debt Using $12K

They helped almost 1.3K people in New York

(Newser) - Some 1,284 people in New York state are getting some good news this holiday season—courtesy of two complete strangers. Ithaca residents Judith Jones, 80, and Carolyn Kenyon, 70, raised $12,500 over the summer and gave it to the RIP Medical Debt charity, which used it to forgive...

I Gave Birth to Sick Twins, Lost My House, My Bed, My Dignity
I Gave Birth to Sick Twins, Lost
My House, My Bed, My Dignity
in case you missed it
Jan 20, 2018 12:54 PM CST

I Gave Birth to Sick Twins, Lost My House, My Bed, My Dignity

Jen Sinconis describes her experience with medical debt for the 'Guardian'

(Newser) - In an essay for the Guardian , Jen Sinconis pens a sort of love letter to two ObamaCare tenets: a ban on lifetime limits on most benefits and on denying people insurance due to pre-existing conditions. Sinconis had access to neither when she had her twin boys 11 years ago. The...

Medical Debt Gets a Break in Credit-Report Overhaul

Big 3 agencies agree to revamp system to better address errors, medical bills

(Newser) - Good news for consumers who've had to play the waiting game to pay off medical debt: The three largest credit-reporting agencies in the US are working together to overhaul their systems to take better care of customer issues and the way medical debt is handled, Reuters reports. In a...

Why Your Credit Score Might Be Going Up

Change in way they're calculated will be more forgiving of medical debt

(Newser) - A modification to how one of the most common credit scores is calculated will mean better credit ratings for many Americans, reports the Wall Street Journal . Fair Isaac Corp. said yesterday that it won't place as much emphasis on medical debt when calculating consumers' FICO scores and will turn...

1K Kentuckians Get Medical Debt Wiped Away

Thanks to Occupy offshoot

(Newser) - This is a protest that's easy to get behind: 1,064 Louisville-area residents have had their medical debts erased, thanks to what the Courier-Journal describes as a protest against the credit industry. The Rolling Jubilee Fund's intent is "to buy and abolish personal debt," per its...

Medical Bills? Your Credit Score Could Take a Whack

Health providers are using collection agencies more aggressively

(Newser) - That unpaid medical bill your insurance company promises to cover for you? Watch out, because even small medical bills are more likely to damage your credit score these days, the New York Times reports. A Texas man was surprised to find that an unpaid $200 ambulance bill (for his son'...

Debt Collectors Go After Patients ... in the ER

'Patients are harassed mercilessly,' one hospital employee says

(Newser) - One of the country's biggest medical debt collectors has reached a new low: sending employees into hospital emergency rooms to "encourage" patients to pay past medical debts before receiving treatment. The Minnesota attorney general is investigating Accretive Health's practices; its debt collectors are allegedly instructed to all...

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