Debt relief group pays off $2M in medical bills for hundreds of struggling New Orleanians
20th April 2020 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
Erin Potts has dedicated her life to helping others with their challenging financial situations, and when she searched for a new cause, she found one when it quite literally hit close to home.
When Potts looked into contributing to the RIP Medical Debt organization, which bundles and forgives millions of dollars in individuals’ medical bills, she found that hundreds of New Orleanians owed a cumulative total of more than $2 million in medical debt.
Even more specifically, one 47-year-old local woman owed nearly $100,000 – and the woman lived in the same zip code as Potts.
That jolt of information spurred Potts and another local volunteer, Sarah Forman, to raise the funds for the RIP program. Potts said she felt driven to help the 975 people in New Orleans, including the one near herself.
“We saw that this could help so many people potentially,” Potts said. “Medical debt ruins people’s lives.”
Under the RIP program, every $1 raised for the cause can purchase more than $100 in individual medical debt, so Potts and her fellow volunteers used a variety of methods – such as online donations, a holiday cocktail party and school bake sales – to raise $19,608.77 for the effort.
That translated to more than $2.1 million in debt buying power to purchase, bundle and forgive the accrued medical bills of those 975 local individuals. Every person helped by the RIP Medical Debt program either makes less than two times the federal poverty level, presents financial hardship with five percent or more of their yearly income going to out-of-pocket medical expenses, and/or is financially insolvent.
Potts said that while the local RIP efforts she led began last year, the urgency of the fundraising program was compounded by the current COVID-19 crisis that has swept through New Orleans and placed further burden on the city’s health-care system, as well as the finances of individual residents.
“That wasn’t planned,” Potts said of the perfect timing. “We had the money raised by the end of last year. The idea was to organize to buy people’s debt [in New Orleans]. These people had been so [financially] overwhelmed that it was hard for them to get going, then [COVID-19] hit.”
Daniel Lempert, director of communications for RIP Medical Debt, said the national organization thrives when it has people on the ground in communities across the country, such as here in New Orleans.
“We’re always thrilled to work with campaign partners because they drive home the incredible impact of medical debt relief on the local level,” Lempert said. “Erin and Sarah love and care for the people of New Orleans, and this campaign will bring much needed relief to those most in need – especially during these unprecedented times.”
Although Potts isn’t a New Orleans native, she moved here four years ago after working for many years on social justice efforts in the city, including helping Mardi Gras Indians and local musicians establish stable financial situations and obtain health care.
While the identities of each program beneficiary aren’t known to the volunteers, Potts said she still felt that her efforts and those of her colleagues will hopefully help each person with crippling medical debt to the maximum extent.
“When you raise this much money,” she added, “you hope that it helps as many people as possible.”
Noting that about 60 percent of personal bankruptcies are caused by medical debt, Potts expressed hope that the coronavirus crisis – as well as the many community-based, grass-roots assistance efforts that have been developed to help people cope with the medical and financial challenges created by the virus – can be a starting point for long-term, systemic, meaningful change.
“In this moment when we all understand the need for a better health-care system,” she said, “a moment when so many people are worried about it, hopefully this will ease their stress.”
This article originally published in the April 20, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
