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. Through these partnerships, organizations raise money so RIP Medical Debt can use the funds to purchase and forgive medical debt for pennies on the dollar.
Below are five recent RIP Medical Debt partnerships that raised millions, as covered by Becker's Hospital Review.
- Crossroads Church, an Ohio church with multiple locations, helped eliminate $46.5 million in medical bills for tens of thousands of families across four states.
- Vive Chicago, a church, raised enough money to pay off more than $19 million in unpaid medical debt for families in Illinois' Cook County.
- Capitol Hill Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa, bought and forgave $5 million of medical debt for state residents.
- Spokane Valley, Wash.-based Valley Real Life’s annual holiday fundraiser raised enough money to forgive about $21 million in medical debt for qualifying individuals in the Pacific Northwest.
- Employees of Alera Group, an insurance broker in Newport Beach, Calif., donated money to pay off $2.1 million in medical debt for community members who live at or below 200 percent of the poverty line in Orange County.