Two-thirds of all U.S. bankruptcies stem from medical debt, and one-quarter of all U.S. credit card debt is medical, according to nonprofit RIP Medical Debt.
Since its launch in 2014, organizations have been teaming up with RIP Medical Debt to erase medical debts for local community members. For every $100 donation, RIP Medical Debt forgives $10,000 in medical debt.
The New York City-based nonprofit limits its debt purchases to people who earn less than twice the poverty level, have out-of-pocket medical expenses that total more than 5 percent of their income or face bankruptcy.
Below are five RIP Medical Debt partnerships that recently erased millions of dollars worth of medical debt:
- Ada (Okla.) First United Methodist Church raised enough money to forgive more than $3.8 million in medical debt for 1,327 people in Oklahoma's south-central region.
- A Montclair, N.J.-based coalition of six faith-based organizations and individual donors raised enough money to forgive more than $3 million in medical debt.
- Bloomfield Township, Mich.-based church Kirk in the Hills and nonprofit Pontiac (Mich.) Community Foundation teamed up to raise money that erased more than $2.3 million in medical debt in Pontiac and more than $3.1 million in the rest of Oakland County.
- Members of ClearView Church in Shreveport, La., raised enough money to forgive more than $2.3 million in medical debt for people in the state's northwest region.
- Monterey, Calif.-based law firm Dunnion Law raised enough money to forgive more than $1.8 million in medical debt for more than 1,800 people in California.