The Problem
In the past forty years, medical costs have doubled, insurance copays and deductibles have spiked, and bankruptcy rates have quadrupled creating an avalanche of destructive medical debt. More than 60% of bankruptcies in America have medical debt as a root cause, and the situation is especially dire in Louisiana.
According to the US Judiciary Data and Analysis Office, Louisiana has one of the highest bankruptcy rates in the country.
Louisiana is like no other state, and no one born outside it can ever fully understand its mix of French, Southern, Creole, Cajun, Spanish, Haitian, and American culture. That might be why Louisianans have such a sense of community pride and neighborly love, seen everywhere from Mardis Gras to crawfish boils. Louisianans often come together to take care of someone who gets sick, but when one hospital trip can cost tens-of-thousands of dollars, the community can only do so much. The strongest communities can be devastated by the medical debt crisis. Medical debt drains money from local towns to out-of-state debt collectors, and families go bankrupt trying to pay for their loved ones medical bills.
How You Can Help
RIP Medical Debt uses your donations to purchase bundled medical debt portfolios on the secondary debt market, and then forgives that debt at pennies on the dollar.
On average, $1 is leveraged to abolish $100 in medical debt, and every donation through this page will be spent directly on abolishing medical debt in Louisiana.
When debt relief recipients open the yellow envelope from RIP, they are told that their debt has been bought by a third party and erased with no strings attached. They owe nothing on the debt and face no tax penalty. A recent beneficiary wrote to us, saying:
“I read my letter over a few times to make sure it was the real thing. Receiving this debt relief renewed my faith that I can get back on track. It jump-started it – that we can do this – I can get back in the game! It’s unheard of what RIP does, and it’s a game changer in the medical world. It’s a game changer for me.”
— Reagan, RIP Medical Debt Recipient of Debt Relief
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How RIP Works
You make a donation
With every donation, RIP uses its precise data analytics to pinpoint the medical debt of those most in need of relief: households whose income is below twice the federal poverty line or are insolvent.
RIP buys medical debt at a steep discount
Your donations allow us to buy debt in bundles. That allows us to buy debt at a fraction of the original cost. So whatever you donate has 100x the impact.
Together we wipe out medical debt
People receive a letter that their debt is gone. No taxes. No penalties. Just like that, they're free of medical debt.
