Help Us Abolish $1,000,000 in Medical Debt

Responding to God’s call to do justice, Washington Avenue Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has committed to abolish $1,000,000 in medical debt, specifically for Lorain County and Ohio residents.

Through a partnership with the national nonprofit RIP Medical Debt that is based in New York, the church will retire medical debt in an amount equal to three times its annual operating budget. RIP uses donated funds to purchase medical debts in large bundled portfolios for a fraction of their face value. It notifies recipients by mail if one or more of their debts has been purchased and erased. RIP only abolishes debt for those in financial hardship (those 400 percent or below the federal poverty level or who have a debt that is 5 percent or more of their annual income).

In June, the church had plans to attend the Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls. Last-minute travel complications prevented church members from making the trip. Instead of going to D.C., the church live-streamed the event in its building. Following the broadcast, congregants decided to distribute the $2500 that had been designated for bus tickets in support of local, state, and nationwide organizations that are addressing the same concerns. As a result of this gathering, the church used $1,000 to eliminate $100,000 in medical debt throughout the United States.

Upon hearing the news of $100,000 in medical debt being canceled, members asked if forgiving more medical debt was possible. The church’s Outreach Committee accepted this prompting and set a goal of raising $5,000 that would be used to abolish an additional $500,000 in medical debt. Before this initiative was publicly launched, the church met its $5,000 goal. Inspired by the energy surrounding this effort, the church doubled its goal to $10,000 to retire $1,000,000 in medical debt. The Rev. Nathan A. Russell, senior pastor, announced this drive in his sermon on Sunday, July 3. Russell said, “Let’s tell the oppressed their medical debt has been erased and that this is the year of the Holy One’s favor.”

Though this is primarily a congregational initiative, the church invites everyone interested to join in making this medical debt cancellation a reality. To participate in this growing effort, please make a designated gift using the above giving portal or mail a check to WACC; 301 Washington Ave; Elyria OH 44035 with “RIP Medical Debt” in the memo line. Following worship on Sunday, August 28, 2022, the church will announce the total amount received and the anticipated amount of medical debt to be abolished.

RIP Medical Debt was established for the sole purpose of reducing the medical debt burdens of low-income individuals with limited capacity to pay their medical bills by leveraging donations from people across the country. They have abolished nearly $7 billion to date for over 3.7 million people. Medical debt abolishment cannot be requested unfortunately and is random, based on which collection agencies and healthcare providers are willing to sell or donate qualifying medical debt to the nonprofit.