A charity campaign launched by KUTV, a Salt Lake City television station, will help pay off medical debt owed by hundreds of people in Utah.
The TV station launched the donation drive with the help of RIP Medical Debt, which buys medical debt for pennies on the dollar and then forgives the debt. After the TV station aired a report about how it raised $1.4 million to pay off the medical debt of more than 500 people, more donations began rolling in.
KUTV has now raised more than $25,000, which will be used to pay off $2.5 million worth of medical debt.
RIP Medical Debt is the same organization comedian John Oliver partnered with when he formed a debt collection business in 2016 and bought then forgave nearly $15 million in medical debt. Earlier this year, KIRO-TV, a CBS-affiliated TV station in Seattle, partnered with RIP Medical Debt to pay off $1 million worth of medical debt, and a Texas church partnered with the company to pay off $10.5 million in medical debt.
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