In July, Bingham+ read an Episcopal News Service story* about St. Bede’s Church in New Mexico that was able to leverage a $15,000 donation to buy $1.4 million worth of medical debt and then, in turn, forgive the holders of that debt. This purchase and loan forgiveness was done through a non-profit, RIP Medical Debt**. The contribution wiped out all of the medical debt in New Mexico and parts of Arizona that was available to purchase from collection agencies or directly from hospitals. The purchase was limited to debt held by those households with incomes less than twice the federal poverty level. Once the debt was paid, RIP Medical Debt wrote “the affected parties a letter telling them they no longer owe the debt” and contacted credit agencies to verify the debt has been paid, clearing the debtor’s credit history. In the case of St. Bede’s, 782 families were relieved of medical debt. Excited by this prospect, Bingham+, Katharine Hunt, and I contacted RIP Medical Debt and learned that a minimum contribution of $5,000 could wipe out all of Oregon’s available medical debt of around $230,000 and relieve about an equal amount of medical debt in Appalachia, a region plagued with high poverty and high medical debt.
This ability to leverage $5,000 nearly hundredfold to provide direct economic assistance to many people has led us to propose using $5,000 from the 2021 Outreach Allocation of $7,905 for this purpose. The remaining $2,905 allocation would be distributed as follows:
• $1,200 to continue our annual allocation to Whitebird to fund its ID program.
• $1,705 to local agencies, with $300 set aside for memberships (e.g., for Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon)
The Outreach Commission will meet via Zoom on Wednesday October 20 at 6:30 PM. to consider this proposal. All members of the parish are invited to attend (link will be provided in weekly email). In the meantime, we’d like to hear from you. Here is a link to an online survey. If you prefer to respond in hard copy, please fill out the survey in the Fall Bellringer, mailed out September 8, and send it to St. Mary’s.
-Contributed by Hillary Kittleson
