Medical Debt

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$1.1 Million in Medical Debt Forgiven – and Burned!

$1.1 Million in Medical Debt Forgiven – and Burned!

Debt Jubilee Project officially forgave $1,165,798.61 in medical debt owed by 1,356 individuals in Forsyth and Davidson counties, and symbolically burned the list of debts during a special church service on Sunday, September 25, at Trinity Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, NC.

The campaign was originally planned to raise $5,000 to purchase and forgive approximately $500,000 in uncollected medical debt in Forsyth County.  The campaign was expected to take three months.  However, in less than six weeks, the campaign hit its goal, with most donations being $25 or $50.  When RIP Medical Debt took the cash to the debt broker, they were able to buy a staggering $1.1 million in debts, about equally split between Forsyth and Davidson counties.

In the coming week, 1,356 households will be receiving official notification of the debt forgiveness.

The church board announced on October 2 that the next phase of the program – raising enough money to forgive approximately $4 million in medical debts owed in Davidson county – will commence immediately.  The Project will be seeking partnerships with many area churches to successfully retire the Davidson county debts.  If your church would like to partner with us, more information is here.

The plan is to then move to Davie, Yadkin, Stokes, and Guilford counties in turn.

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Featured photo: June Edwards, Vice-Chair of the Board and Pastor John Jackman burn the list of debts.  Photo by Debbie Jackman

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100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt

100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt

A recent investigation by Kaiser Health News and NPR reveals that 100 million Americans have significant medical debt. This is far more pervasive than previously reported.

“Debt is no longer just a bug in our system. It is one of the main products,” said Dr. Rishi Manchanda, who has worked with low-income patients in California for more than a decade and served on the board of the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt. “We have a health care system almost perfectly designed to create debt.”

https://khn.org/news/article/diagnosis-debt-investigation-100-million-americans-hidden-medical-debt/

Featured photo from Pexels/Pavel Danilyuk

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Families Sued for Nursing Home Debts

Families Sued for Nursing Home Debts

Recent reporting by NPR reveals that in upstate New York,  it is becoming common for nursing home to sue friends and relatives for the care of residents – and this is common in other areas, too.

In New York’s Monroe County, where Rochester is located, 24 federally licensed nursing homes filed 238 debt collection cases from 2018 to 2021 seeking almost $7.6 million, KHN found. Several nursing homes did not file any lawsuits in that period.

The nursing home industry has quietly developed what consumer attorneys and patient advocates say is a pernicious strategy of pursuing family and friends of patients despite federal law that was enacted to protect them from debt collection. “The level of aggression that nursing homes are using to collect unpaid debt is severely increasing,” said Lisa Neeley, a Massachusetts elder law attorney.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/28/1113134049/nursing-homes-are-suing-friends-and-family-to-collect-on-patients-bills

Featured image courtesy of Alpha Stock Images – http://alphastockimages.com/

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Surprise Ambulance Bills

Surprise Ambulance Bills

Families are being broadsided by unexpected ambulance bills — often out-of-network and aggressively collected.  NPR reporter Bram Sable-Smith followed up in this story for All Things Considered.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/27/1113563630/the-ambulance-chased-one-patient-into-collections

Featured photo from Rodnae Productions/PEXELS

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NC Considers New Rules for Medical Debt

NC Considers New Rules for Medical Debt

NC legislators are discussing new legislation which would relieve medical debt, especially for poorer families.  House Bill 1039, “The Medical Bill De-Weaponization Act,” is intended to provide strict guide rails for hospital and medical systems regarding aggressive collections of medical debts.

Read about it on NPR:
North Carolina considers new laws to ‘de-weaponize’ medical debt and protect patients

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Some Medical Debt No Longer on Credit Reports

Some Medical Debt No Longer on Credit Reports

The three major credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – have announced a change to how medical debt will be reported.  Medical debt paid within a year will be dropped for the report; later on, debts under $500 will not be reported at all.  However, debts which have not been paid in full will continue to be reported.  The good news for recipients of Debt Jubilee Project is that once the debt is paid, it will be removed from credit reports and no longer drag down credit ratings.

Read more from Forbes:
70% Of Medical Collection Debt Will Soon Be Removed From Credit Reports: Here’s What You Need To Know

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