The increasing number of television stations that have been turned into debt buyers as a means of forgiving medical debt for individuals in their viewing areas has caught the attention of NBC News, which conducted an interview with Craig Antico, the co-founder of RIP Medical Debt, during last night’s newscast.
The organization now says it has forgiven more than $120 million in medical debt, according to the segment that aired last night.
When asked why he switched from being a collector to helping abolish debt instead, Antico said the stress of making 200 calls a day demanding payment wears on an individual. Now, rather than not being able to wait for 5pm so he could go home, he says he is excited to go to work in the morning.
TV stations in Seattle, Utah, and St. Louis have invested $12,500 to purchase portfolios of $1 million worth of medical debts using RIP Medical Debt, a non-profit organization that works to raise money so it can purchase medical debts and forgive them. RIP Medical Debt burst onto the scene two years ago, when it helped HBO’s John Oliver purchase and forgive $15 million of unpaid medical debt. The organization has also worked with nurses in Minnesota and a start-up healthcare company in California
