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Stacey Abrams is focusing on a fight to wipe out medical bill debt. Her organization Fair Fight’s Political Action Committee donated $1.34 million to another organization called RIP Medical Debt to help take care of medical debt in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona and Mississippi for 108,000 people. The donation covers a small chunk of the debt though, which totals up to $212 million.
“I know firsthand how medical costs and a broken healthcare system put families further and further in debt,” Abrams said in a statement. “Across the sunbelt and in the South, this problem is exacerbated in states like Georgia where failed leaders have callously refused to expand Medicaid, even during a pandemic.”
Fair Fight’s donation is the third largest RIP Medical Debt has ever received.
RIP Medical Debt has been a champion of erasing medical debt for millions of people. Since 2014, they have taken care of medical bills for over 3 million people. They contact collection agencies who have been chasing debtors for years and purchase the bills from them. So far, RIP Medical Debt has paid off $5.3 million of medical bills. The medical bill debt in the U.S totals up to an astounding $141 million.
Abrams said Fair Fight joining forces with RIP Medical Debt is “stepping in where others have refused to take action.”
“For people of color, the working poor and middle-class families facing crushing costs, we hope to relieve the strain on desperate Americans and on hospitals struggling to remain open,” Abrams added.
The folks receiving this financial assistance will be hearing about the good news soon.
“The more than 108,000 individuals will receive a letter in the coming days, contained in a yellow envelope, informing them that their debt has been relieved.”
