Stacey Abrams speaks throughout a church service in Norfolk, Va., on Oct. 17. A political group led by the Democrat is branching out into paying off medical money owed. Honest Combat Motion mentioned it is donating $1.34 million from its political motion committee to wipe out debt owed by 108,000 individuals in Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Steve Helber/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Steve Helber/AP
Stacey Abrams speaks throughout a church service in Norfolk, Va., on Oct. 17. A political group led by the Democrat is branching out into paying off medical money owed. Honest Combat Motion mentioned it is donating $1.34 million from its political motion committee to wipe out debt owed by 108,000 individuals in Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Steve Helber/AP
ATLANTA — The political group led by distinguished Democrat Stacey Abrams is branching out into paying off medical money owed.
The Honest Combat Political Motion Committee on Wednesday instructed The Related Press it has donated $1.34 million from its political motion committee to the nonprofit group RIP Medical Debt to wipe out debt with a face worth of $212 million that’s owed by 108,000 individuals in Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of allied group Honest Combat Motion and senior adviser to the PAC, mentioned paying off medical debt is one other aspect of the group’s advocacy looking for enlargement of Medicaid protection within the 12 states that have refused to expand the health insurance to all poorer adults.
“What’s so vital about that is the tie between Medicaid enlargement and simply crushing medical debt,” Groh-Wargo mentioned.
Arizona and Louisiana have expanded Medicaid; Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama haven’t
Of the states focused, Arizona and Louisiana have expanded Medicaid.
Honest Combat mentioned letters will probably be despatched to these whose money owed have been absolved to inform them. The acquisition will forgive the debt of almost 69,000 individuals in Georgia, greater than 27,000 individuals in Arizona, greater than 8,000 individuals in Louisiana, and about 2,000 individuals apiece in Mississippi and Alabama.
The group has raised greater than $100 million since Abrams based it after her 2018 loss within the Georgia governor’s race. Honest Combat has been most famous for its advocacy of voting rights, however has additionally been pushing for broader well being care.
Georgia Democrats are hoping for an Abrams-Kemp rematch
The group launched advertisements final week demanding that Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp add Medicaid enlargement to the listing of matters that Georgia lawmakers will take into account in a particular session beginning subsequent week to redraw electoral districts.
Democrats are hoping Abrams will run in opposition to Kemp once more in 2022. A slim loss to Kemp in 2018 launched Abrams into political stardom.
“I do know firsthand how medical prices and a damaged healthcare system put households additional and additional in debt,” Abrams mentioned in a press release. “Throughout the sunbelt and within the South, this downside is exacerbated in states like Georgia the place failed leaders have callously refused to increase Medicaid, even throughout a pandemic.”
Honest Combat wipes out individuals’s medical payments by shopping for them up at steep reductions
RIP Medical Debt mentioned Honest Combat is giving the third-largest donation in its historical past. Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave the group $50 million final yr. The group has aided greater than 3 million individuals because it was based in 2014, sometimes shopping for bundles of medical debt at steep reductions from the face worth. The payments typically are bought from assortment companies which have been attempting to get debtors to pay for years. The group has worn out debt with a face worth of greater than $5.3 billion.
Allison Sesso, government director of RIP Medical Debt, mentioned such liabilities typically drive individuals out of business, can deter individuals from looking for wanted medical care, and may result in wages being garnished or liens filed on property.
“I would not underestimate the psychological anguish that individuals have from medical debt,” Sesso mentioned.
Sesso mentioned her group is not only pursuing debt abolishment “however eager about how we are able to enhance the system nationwide,” attempting to advocate that hospitals ought to do extra to make charity care accessible. She additionally mentioned analysis exhibits states that expanded Medicaid have decrease charges of medical debt.
“We’re not the everlasting answer,” Sesso mentioned. “There does should be a bigger answer round what we do about medical debt.”
Groh-Wargo mentioned the cash was given by donors for political motion, however mentioned the cash represents “solely a small share” of what Honest Combat has raised.
“I consider this as politically tithing to assist the neighborhood we’re advocating for and with,” Groh-Wargo mentioned, saying the group has finished smaller scale charitable efforts.
