These Local Governments Are Using Federal Aid to Cancel Medical Debt

From Oscar Perry Abello / Next City: With funding from city governments, the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt acquires and cancels medical debt by negotiating directly with hospitals. The only requirement is being under 400% of the federal poverty line and no application is necessary.

Click here to read the full story on Next City.

Issue Areas:

Health and Wellbeing, Medical Debt

Impact Areas:

Equity, Health and Wellness

Actors:

Government, Nonprofit / NGO

Communities Served:

—

Strategies:

Easing Economic Burdens for Individuals, Reallocating Government / Public Financing

Success Factors:

Addressing Underlying Issues, Meeting People Where They Are At, Practicing Human Centered Design, Providing Cash Instead Of Goods/Services, Resilience, Using Creative Financing

Geographic Region:

North America

Countries:

United States

Date:

November 22, 2022

More Resources:

Mongolian nomads create shared funds and financial security

From Sarah Trent, Khaliun Bayartsogt / Devex: Herders in Mongolia have resorted to cooperative shared funds to keep their pastures afloat, a sign of a slow tilt towards greater collaboration and trust in the area. The shared funds act as...

Nehemiah: Making the American Dream possible for first-time homeowners

From CBS News: The Nehemiah project began in the 1980s building privately-owned homes on land that nobody wanted in East Brooklyn and sold the homes at prices that were affordable to working class families. Church and community organizers mobilized local...

Conversation with Tariq Al-Olaimy

Tariq Al-Olaimy is the co-founder of Recipes for Wellbeing, a non-profit dedicated to fostering the wellbeing and resilience of impact organizations worldwide. Through his work at the intersection of the Systemic Sacred, Tariq integrates faith, sustainability, and systemic change to...

Conversation with Allison Duettmann

Allison Duettmann is the president and CEO of Foresight Institute. She directs the Intelligent Cooperation, Molecular Machines, Biotech & Health Extension, Neurotech, and Space Programs, Fellowships, Prizes, and Tech Trees, and shares this work with the public. She founded Existentialhope.com,...

Conversation with Cassandra Ferrera

Through the work of ethical land transitions, Cassandra works to transform conventional real estate practice in service to Land, cultural reunion, and reparative justice. Becoming a person of place is Cassandra’s orienting cosmology, and her activist real estate career is...

What if debt was written off to protect climate and nature?

From India Bourke / BBC: Debt-for-nature or debt-for-climate swaps are financial tools that allow indebted countries to refinance their debt and use the money saved to restore ecosystems and build environmental resilience. Ecuador, with the help of Credit-Suisse and the...