BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A group of Lehigh Valley churches has used unconventional means to erase millions of dollars in medical debt for residents of Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties.
Five Episcopal churches and one Lutheran church raised enough money to buy $3.5 million worth of medical debt that had gone into collections, through the debt collection market.
"Somebody is making a whole lot of change by picking the dimes and the nickels and the quarters out of the pockets of poor people, working people and struggling people. And this money could be used to put food on the table or fill up the oil tank in the basement."The Very Rev. Jon Stratton, Bethlehem's Nativity Church of the Cathedral dean
"The reason why we were able to do this is because, as it turns out, you can purchase $100 worth of debt for less than $1," the Very Rev. Jon Stratton,Bethlehem's Nativity Church of the Cathedral dean, said at a Thursday news conference.
"For less than it costs to buy a cup of coffee from Wawa, you can buy yourselves $100 worth of medical debt that has gone into collections, which tells me there is something significantly broken in our system."
The whole thing only cost around $25,000, Stratton said. Much of the money came from sales at Nativity Cathedral's thrift store.
The initiative was a partnership with Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit based in Long Island City, New York, that specializes in erasing such debts by buying them from the collections market — usually in large, bundle deals.
"Somebody is making a whole lot of change by picking the dimes and the nickels and the quarters out of the pockets of poor people, working people and struggling people," Stratton said.
"And this money could be used to put food on the table or fill up the oil tank in the basement.
"And the very fact you can trade and buy and sell medical debt for so little makes me wonder if perhaps, maybe, just maybe, we could make it so that patients aren't charged so much in the first place."
Baby Cora
The Rev. Maryann Sturges, a priest at Nativity Cathedral who is on maternity leave, showed up to the conference with the reason she's on maternal leave: baby Cora. She is 10 weeks and two days old.
Holding her child in a swaddle, Sturges told her own story of hefty medical bills.
"Ten weeks ago, and two days, there was a complication with my pregnancy, and [Cora] was born early, at 34 weeks," Sturges said.
"And so because of that, she ended up needing to stay in the NICU for about two weeks. We had insurance, and so we did not have to think much about if we could afford it, what our bills would be.
'But then we did start receiving those bills, and when I looked at the explanation, the cost of one of the bills we received, and we received many, but one of them, the cost was $161,000."
Sturges' insurance decided that the NICU stay was "not medically necessary" and, between hospital visits, she got a letter in the mail explaining that she would be on the hook for the full bill.
Thankfully, upon appeal, insurance covered it, and she only had to pay $1,000.
Future funds not ruled out
In her speech, Sturges said not everyone has such options.
"Most women don't have access to paid maternity leave, even if they have good health insurance," she said.
"I'm so grateful and thank God every day that this church works hard to support this community."The Rev. Maryann Sturges, priest at Cathedral Church of the Nativity
"So I'm so glad that this church, even while I'm not here, is doing amazing work to raise money to forgive the debt of so many people who are struggling in this community.
"And I'm so grateful and thank God every day that this church works hard to support this community."
The churches are no longer accepting donations for the initiative, but did not rule out the possibility of more similar fundraising campaigns in the future.
More information about Undue Medical Debt is available on its website.
