Liliana Bakhtiari's Campaign to Relieve $5M of Medical Debt in Atlanta

Liliana Bakhtiari has dedicated the past two decades to pursuing impactful change for social justice issues in Georgia and around the world. With the RIP Medical Debt initiative, Bakhtiari’s determined to lift this gratuitous burden off the shoulders of families across Georgia. 

Liliana Bakhtiari is a force to be reckoned. She’s a well known leader in the social justice world, with over 20 years experience and human advocacy work empowering local communities in over 24 countries. Primarily focused on healthcare for women and children, she has also fought for refugee resettlement, environmental justice, career training with orphans and human trafficking victims, and more. Currently the Public Affairs Manager of Planned Parenthood Southeast, Bakhtiari works closely with the VP of Public Policy to defend the organization and its mission on the front lines of today’s cultural, political, and legislative struggle. 

The RIP Medical Debt organization aligns closely with Bakhtiari’s ongoing fight to alleviate gratuitous social burdens preventing people from having a healthy, balanced, and thriving life. Medical debt is an epidemic in America. It’s shocking how easily a family can acquire significant debt through medical expenses, with estimates of over $75 billion in debt weighing down American progress. 1 in 5 Americans, over 43 million people, carry delinquent medical debt on their credit reports (Washington Post) and suffer the accompanying economic constraints. Many struggle to cover the cost of their medical care at all, as high as 1 in 3 Americans (Bloomberg). What’s worse, the debt of one person is often carried by their entire family, spreading the damaging burden across generations of Americans and limiting the economic progress of entire communities. 

Bakhtiari has partnered with RIP Medical Debt to bring relief to families here in Georgia suffering from accumulated medical debt using donations to purchase bundled medical debt portfolios that have gone through collection agencies for months or years. On average, $1 abolishes $100 in medical debt. Prioritizing forgiving medical debt incurred by people facing financial hardship, the organization is able to free entire families from a burden they never should have had to shoulder in the first place. 

Join Liliana Bakhtiari and support the RIP Medical Debt initiative giving relief to families across Georgia. Your donation/sponsoring of this important initiative will have dramatic impact on the lives of people across Georgia while stimulating the economy within their communities.

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RIP Medical Debt’s Solution: RIP Medical Debt uses donations to purchase bundled medical debt portfolios that have gone through collection agencies for months or years. Using third-party credit data providers, it targets debt incurred by people facing financial hardship, and then forgives it. On average, $1 is leveraged to abolish $100 in medical debt.

Please see the full RIP FAQ below and visit www.ripmedicaldebt.org for more information. 

Who is RIP Medical Debt? RIP Medical Debt (RIP) is a national 501c3 nonprofit organization with a mission to empower donors to forgive the billions of dollars in oppressive medical debt at pennies on the dollar. RIP locates, buys, and abolishes destructive medical debt for individuals, veterans, and families. Since inception in 2014, RIP has relieved more than $600 million in medical debt for individuals across the U.S., impacting over 250,000 individuals.

How Does RIP Medical Debt Work? RIP, working with third-party credit data providers, searches through large debt portfolios to locate accounts meeting their criteria for relief. RIP then negotiates to buy millions of dollars of this debt at a steep discount, usually a penny or less on the dollar.

Facts about Medical Debt

• 42.9 million Americans have unpaid medical bills, which creates an adverse impact on debtor patients, physicians, and hospitals (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
• Six in 10 of both insured and uninsured people say they have difficulty in paying other bills as a result of medical debt. Over a third were unable to pay for food, heat or housing because of medical bills. (Kaiser Family Foundation & New York Times)
• Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults under age 65, or 116 million people, had medical bill problems or debt, went without needed care because of cost, were uninsured for a time or were underinsured — insured but had high out-of-pocket medical expenses or deductibles relative to income. (Kaiser Family Foundation & New York Times)
• Medical debt contributes to more than 60 percent of the bankruptcies in the U.S. Until satisfied, debt lingers on a person’s credit report to negatively impact their ability to buy a home, get a loan or even gain employment. (The American Journal of Medicine)

Whose unpayable medical bills does RIP forgive?

• Individuals who make less than 2 times the federal poverty level
• Individuals with financial hardship - 5% or more of their annual income goes to out-of-pocket medical expenses
• Individuals who are insolvent (debts greater to their assets)

Why Donate to RIP Medical Debt?

• Your dollar goes a long way! On average, $1 abolishes $100 of debt.
• 100 percent of your donation goes towards abolishing medical debt.
• RIP Medical Debt is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, and our EIN number is 47-1442997. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
• We have specific programs for veterans and active service members of the US military.
• There are no tax consequences for those whose medical debts are forgiven. The forgiveness is a gift from a detached and disinterested third party (RIP) is an act of generosity, so forgiveness of the
• does not count as being income to the gift recipient.

RIP Medical Debt's Federal Tax ID: 47-1442997

Disclaimer: In the event that a campaign is unable to meet RIP Medical Debt's local campaign contribution goal, all funds will be attributed to our national funds for general or veteran medical debt.