The Cure for Medical Debt: Combining compassion and expertise, RIP Medical Debt empowers donors to forgive billions in oppressive medical debt at pennies on the dollar.

Who We Are: RIP Medical Debt is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that locates, buys, and forgives medical debt across America, the only industrialized nation on earth with personal medical debt. We work on behalf of individual donors, philanthropists, and organizations to relieve oppressive medical debt, with a special focus on forgiving the medical debt of U.S. active duty military and veterans.

How We Work: 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.

Why veterans? What may be surprising is that veteran medical debt even exists. It is almost a common understanding that medical costs for our armed forces and their families, both during and after enlistment, are paid by the government in return for their service to our country.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. One visit to the emergency room or treatment for a serious illness outside (and even inside) the VA can devastate a vet’s savings and credit ratings.

Some alarming stats:

• 1.3 million uninsured U.S. veterans have out-of-pocket medical expenses exceeding their disposable incomes.
• The VA denies over $3 billion in claims made by veterans, impacting nearly 90,000 veterans annually with excessive fees associated with emergency visits.
• 46 percent of complaints from servicemembers the CFPB received last year were related to debt collection.

Your donation to RIP Medical Debt is highly leveraged - on average, $1 will abolish $100 in medical debt. 

Please see the rest of the FAQ below and visit www.ripmedicaldebt.org for more information. 

Facts about Medical Debt

• More than $100 billion in unpaid medical debt every year has an adverse impact on debtor patients,  physicians, and hospitals.
• 6 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.
• 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.
• Medical debt contributes to more than 60% of the bankruptcies in the US. Until satisfied, debt
  lingers on a person’s credit report to negatively impact their ability to buy a home, get a loan or evengain employment.

Whose unpayable medical bills does RIP forgive?

• Individuals who make less than 2 times the federal poverty level
• Individuals with financial hardship - a debt that that is 5% or more of their annual income
• 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.
• To date, RIP has forgiven $120 million in medical debt thanks to generous supporters.
• 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 debt does not count as being income to the gift recipient.