Maine Nonprofit Cancels $1.9 Million in Medical Debt for 1,500 People

A pair of nonprofits have teamed up to help zero out medical debt balances for over 1,000 working families in Maine.

Mainers for Working Families (MFWF) and Undue Medical Debt partnered together in the effort to help families in the state breathe a little easier. Thanks to their advocacy, they were able to buy debts worth up to $1.8 million for pennies on the dollar.

The method, now becoming something of a mainstream charity movement, was explained in an earlier GNN story. 

Some hospital patients can’t or won’t pay their huge bills for years at a time—so, a hospital’s claim to $50,000, or even $100,000 suddenly begins to look quite worthless. They could take legal action, but there’s no guarantee they would collect, and it’s expensive to pay the legal fees resulting.

So, Undue Medical Debt, (once called RIP Medical Debt) comes into the picture and offers $5,000 in immediate payment to take that claim off their hands—essentially buying the debt for pennies on the dollar.

The organization was founded by Wall Street investors in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and has since wiped out $14.8 billion in unpaid medical debt from thousands of Americans.

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In Maine, the action was taken on behalf of 1,508 low-income people who had taken on medical debt worth 5% or more of their annual income, or who sat at an income 4-times lower than the national poverty line.

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Together, these 1,508 people held around $1.8 million in debt, which was bought via a donation from MFWF of just $12,740.

“We can’t turn back the clock for these people, but we had to do something,” Evan LeBrun, MFWF’s executive director, said in a statement.

BREAKING: Mainers for Working Families is partnering with @unduemeddebt to purchase and forgive $1.8 million in medical debt for over 1,500 Mainers across the state. pic.twitter.com/gkf4QELoiA

— Mainers For Working Families (@ForMainers) October 24, 2024

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