35,007 people from Southwest Virginia received a letter recently, informing them that their medical debt had been erased, after a nonprofit in the New River Valley paid off their bills.
This is the third time The Secular Society purchased medical debt. Two years ago, they paid off $12 million. This year, they erased $51 million. The group purchased the debt in bulk.
“The way that it’s purchased is at a discounted rate, sometimes penny to the dollar of true debt value,” explained Rachel Helton, a spokesperson for The Secular Society, a nonprofit based in Blacksburg. She said people cannot apply to their organization to have their debt erased. Instead, The Secular Society worked with a third-party organization, called Undue Medical Debt, who finds individuals who owe money to collection agencies or medical systems.
“Medical debt can last a really long time,” Helton said. “It can follow a person a really long time, sometimes for a lifetime.”
The individuals across Southwest Virginia whose debt was eliminated have a family income less than four times the federal poverty level, or had medical debt that’s five percent or more of their annual income.
“Many patients are hesitant and apprehensive about medical bills,” Helton said. “So oftentimes they won’t get treated. They won’t go for preventative, they won’t go when even acute or accidental things happen.”
Helton said their group saw an increased need this year in people with medical debt, and those without enough income to pay it off.