The Secular Society, a non-profit corporation located in Blacksburg, has purchased an additional $12,102,570 medical debt of 14,434 Southwest Virginia citizens.
That debt has now been wiped out.
To be eligible for purchase and abolition, the debt must be owned by someone with a family income less than four times the federal poverty level or for whom a medical debt is 5% or more of their annual income. The medical debt of an uninsured citizen, as well as that of an underinsured citizen, is eligible for purchase. Medical debt relief cannot be requested and the eligible recipients simply receive a letter with the good news.
Once the debts have been purchased further collection attempts cease, credit reports are updated, access to medical care is restored and the citizen’s peace of mind should improve.
The Secular Society has again partnered with RIP Medical Debt, a non-profit corporation headquartered in New York, to purchase and abolish this debt, to notify the debtors in writing that their debt has been cancelled, and to ensure that the credit report has been updated.
For those whose medical debts have been abolished, the relief is a gift, an act of generosity from a disinterested third party, and so the debt does not count as income to the debtor.
The citizens in 20 Southwest Virginia counties – Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Craig, Dickenson, Floyd, Franklin, Giles, Grayson, Lee, Montgomery, Patrick, Pulaski, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, and Wythe, and the City of Radford – received these medical debt relief benefits.
The Secular Society
