RIP Medical Debt
RIP Medical Debt is an Rye, New York-based 501(c)(3) charity focused on the elimination of personal medical debt. Founded in 2014 by former debt collection executives Jerry Ashton and Craig Antico,[2] the charity purchases medical debt on the debt collection market, and then forgives the debt.[3] The charity states that they pay about $1 for every $100 of debt that they purchase. The founders were inspired by medical debt elimination efforts by Occupy Wall Street.[4] 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.[5] As of November, 2020, they state that they have forgiven debts for over 1,800,000 individuals and families, totaling USD$2,689,616,823.[6]
References
- Samuel, Leah (June 6, 2016). "Inside the medical debt charity that John Oliver just made famous". Stat. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
- Overall, Michael (26 November 2020). "A Tulsa couple we're thankful for tells us how they did it". Tulsa World. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
- Esch, Mary (December 24, 2018). "Secret Santas: Charity buys and erases past-due medical debt". Associated Press. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
- Goldman, David (June 6, 2016). "John Oliver makes 'TV history' by forgiving $15 million in medical debt". CNN Business. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
- "Collecting to Forgive". RIP Medical Debt. Retrieved 28 November 2020.