Indiana TV Station Buys, Forgives $15 Million in Medical Debts

Another television station has taken up the fight to help individuals in its viewing area who are dealing with high amounts of unpaid medical debts.

Following other stations in Utah, St. Louis, and Seattle, Fox59 in central Indiana is looking to help families who have high amounts of unpaid medical debts and are struggling to repay them.

The station, like the others, is partnering with RIP Medical Debt, a non-profit organization that purchases medical debts and then forgives them, providing financial relief to families and individuals who are unable to pay off their healthcare debts.

The Indiana station was able to use $15,000 to purchase $1.5 million of debts for individuals in its viewing area around Indianapolis and is now mailing out letters to those individuals, informing them that their medical debts have been wiped clean.

RIP Medical Debt is seeking to abolish $1 billion of unpaid healthcare bills in 2018, according to the organization’s co-founders, Jerry Ashton and Craig Antico. RIP Medical Debt made the news back in June 2016 when it helped HBO’s John Oliver purchase and forgive $15 million of unpaid medical debt. The organization has also worked with nurses in Minnesota and a start-up healthcare company in California to purchase and forgive unpaid medical debts. Earlier this year, the organization was also profiled on NBC’s Nightly News.