After a local campaign erased nearly $41 million in medical debt for more than 36,000 Oklahomans, the fundraising is coming to an end. That’s not because debt isn’t rising; it’s just out of reach. Tulsa couple Mona and Mark Whitmire started the effort in partnership with the national nonprofit RIP Medical Debt just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Oklahoma. It targets debt that has been sold by medical providers to debt collectors. The nonprofit buys the debt for pennies on each dollar owed and then cancels it.
RIP Medical Debt Executive Director Allison Sesso says it approached area hospitals for that possibility but didn’t get any traction. “The Tulsa campaign is suspended because they can’t get to the debt,” Sesso said. In general, hospitals have varying policies regarding charity care and assistance, but billions of dollars are held in debt by the institutions.
The first U.S. hospital to sign an agreement with RIP Medical Debt was Ballad Health, a health care system located in 29 counties in Virginia and Tennessee. It paid off $278 million for about 82,000 patients; some of the debts dated back a decade. In total, the national nonprofit has agreements with 16 hospital systems and more in the pipeline. Still, Sesso said it has taken awhile for some health care institutions to embrace the nonprofit’s work.
“Unfortunately, we’ve struggled to get hospitals to engage with us and willing to participate,” she said. “A lot of hospitals hadn’t heard about us. A lot of hospitals think it’s too good to be true. Some prefer the collections agencies.”
This is not free health care. Many patients had already paid copayments, deductibles and more toward the balance. Their eligibility includes having an income less than twice the federal poverty level, a financial hardship or insolvency. They just couldn’t keep up, and the balances languished. To read more click here.