$2.3 Million of Local Medical Debt Eliminated by The Forgiveness Project
987 RECIPIENTS HAVE THEIR MEDICAL DEBTS FORGIVEN!
Last fall we put before you a challenge to raise $15,000 to go toward local and currently-owed medical debt. Around the country, 42.9 million people have unpaid medical debt, including many of our friends and neighbors in Shreveport-Bossier.
The impact of having medical debt beyond your ability to pay plays out like ripples in a pond. First there is the stress of bills piling up and constant calls from debt collectors. Next comes a drop in your credit score and perhaps even personal bankruptcy – medical debt is now the number one reason. Most with unpaid medical debts postpone future medical care, creating greater health risks. Most also report increased symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Not only did you meet the goal, you exceeded it! The Forgiveness Project raised $18,500. In partnership with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit medical debt buyer, this has allowed us to abolish debts for 987 recipients in our area, totaling $2,361,594.76 forgiven. Recipients will be notified via mail that their debts are forgiven in Jesus’ name and that the debts will be removed from their credit scores as well.
As you can see below, $1.85M was forgiven for those in Caddo-Bossier – 492 Caddo residents and 275 Bossier residents. We were also able to surprise folks in 6 other neighboring parishes, totaling nearly 1000 households and over $2.3M forgiven!
Note: while we designed our campaign to impact NWLA, we were not involved in selecting any of the recipients. RIP Medical has existing relationships with providers and other debt buyers and a series of criteria to identify those in a given area most in need of help.
As Christians, we know the value of forgiveness. Thank you for your generosity to offer that gift of forgiveness to those around us. May God use all of this for his glory!
