occupy offshoot buys million in random people's emergency room debt and forgives it

[Liberal_in_LA]

Occupy Wall Street offshoot, Strike Debt, announced Friday that it has abolished $1.1 million in medical debt for more than 1,000 people.
The protest group did this by buying emergency room debts for pennies on the dollar and then simply forgiving them rather than trying to collect the money, Strike Debt said in a statement.

When a bank, lender or other company, like a hospital, is unable to collect on a debt, it typically sells it to debt buyers or collectors -- often at a much lower price than the original amount owed since the odds of collecting the money are low. Whoever buys the debt then attempts to get the money from the debtor.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/15/pf/occupy-wall-street-debt/index.html?iid=s_mpm

[AllyCat]

1. I give to this group. Love this.

Hospital debt is the worst. Their billing is so unorganized. I found out yesterday that a hospital had sent me to collection for debts I paid my copay and forgot about because I thought I had paid. They never sent another bill. It is 5 years later! Now I am left with the onus to call my insurance, recreate payment receipts, and dig through bank statements to prove them wrong. They say they couldn't get a phone number or location for me. I work for them!

[Merlot]

7. Before you start digging for receipts, check the statue of limitations

If a debt is older than 5 years it may not be collectible. It depends on a lot of different factors, like what state you're in, etc. But if they haven't made any effort in 5 years, it could be a fishing expedition on their part to increase revenue.

[AllyCat]

14. Thank you. That was my sense about this.

just too convenient for them.

[sabrina 1]

2. They are showing Congress the way, but Congress as always, is looking the OTHER

way. This phase of OWS has been amazing. But OWS has been amazing from the start.

[ljm2002]

10. ^^^This^^^ +1000000 n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. rec!

[niyad]

6. welcome to DU--I love what this group is doing

[Doremus]

5. K&R

[colsohlibgal]

8. Win Win

Occupy must possess the empathy and humanity the right lacks added to their own. I'd have to think that if my massive overcharge in an ER got paid and forgiven I'd make it a point to vote and vote right from then on.

One of the best comments I heard this weekend had to do with Rob Portman joining Big Dick in switching to pro gay after they knew they had a gay kid - the thought that it would be nice if some of those people's kids would come out to them as poor.

[liberal_at_heart]

9. k&r

[Le Taz Hot]

11. What a wonderful group

this has turned out to be.

[iangmac]

12. Taxes

Do the folks with forgiven debt have to recognize that as income on their tax return?

[AllyCat]

15. No!! That was a concern when they first started this

And it has been covered by Strike Debt. Not happening for this debt, even though it is a common practice with other creditors.

[Robb]

25. Do you have good info on that?

I've been wondering about this since I first heard about it.

You've got either forgiven debt or uncollected debt; there's an asset, and someone's got to report it somewhere.

On edit: I found a good piece that explains most of it: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/11/13/the-deliciousness-of-rolling-jubilee/

[zazen]

27. Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism argues the IRS issue is not resolved

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/11/occupy-wall-streets-debt-jubilee-a-gimmick-with-tax-risk.html

I hope she's wrong. It's such a great idea in spirit.

[Robb]

33. RJ will owe gift tax.

This was my concern.

[AllyCat]

29. This is precisely the link I was looking for, but it is on the Strike Debt website too.

Thanks for posting it!

[Fire Walk With Me]

13. CNN? Wow. At the start of Occupy they had a text line on screen reading "Massive rioting possible

in the US?"

Disasterbators. But sometimes they get it, even regarding Occupy. Thanks for posting.

[FairyDust]

16. Wish they'd buy some of mine

I've been fighting to pay off medical debt incurred after my husband had a stroke at 44. He's was covered at the time but has not been able to get health insurance since. Tried changing jobs and new employer dropped all employees to prevent him from getting it due to the cost of his pre-existing condition. We have had to foot the bill out of pocket for all medication and doctors visits and tests for the last year since I lost my job of 21 years and my health insurance.. I'm so happy some folks are getting a blessing from Strike Debt.

[sylvi]

17. That's amazing

And they bought it for only $21,000? A lot of people breathing easier tonight with that burden lifted.

Sounds like a great cause to donate to. I'll have to keep them in mind.

[Initech]

18. Hospitals should not be for profit.

I'm glad there's people like this.

[Puzzledtraveller]

21. Actually most hospitals are not

For example nearly every hospital in my city, and thinking about it I am certain it is every hospital in my city all had their beginnings a long time ago having been established as hospitals for the general public and founded and ran by the various church's, Catholic, Baptist and Jewish in the case of my city. It seems fair and probably allowed more people access at the time. This is obviously not true today yet many still are technically "non-profit". Which makes me wonder. What changed it? Certainly there are numerous factors, the modern times and all it entails being the most obvious difference but could it have been that medical insurance was not the industry back then as it is now. While we are at it, when did the medical insurance industry as we know it today begin?

[Egalitarian Thug]

19. Here's some of their sites. Join up and throw them some bucks if you have them!

http://rollingjubilee.org/

http://strikedebt.org/

http://www.iamnotaloan.org/

[tanyev]

20. Oh, that is brilliant.

I worked in a county records office a while back and there was a company that had bought up debt records from a hospital that had gone under many years ago and was still making people's lives miserable.

[Puzzledtraveller]

22. I love this sort of thing, people helping people

The government can provide a lot, I would know that's what I do every day is help people with food and medical assistance. This kind of actions helps those that can't qualify for that aid as well as extend the aid we are able to give some people. And their are those who had fallen on such hard times that they have no one to turn to and every little bit helps.

[intheflow]

23. I really want to believe this group is legit.

Last edited Sun Mar 17, 2013, 09:36 PM - Edit history (1)

But I have some questions:

How come none of the people whose debt has been abolished have come forward? So far the only verification we have that this has happened is from Strike Debt, even though they say they've sent notes to the people whose debt they've abolished. Where are those people?

CNN reports, "The organization spent about $21,000 to purchase the debt, using money raised from supporters." Back in December, they claimed they were poised to retire $9,000,000 in medical debt having raised over $350,000. Where's the other ~$325K? Even accounting for operating expenses, why hasn't more debt been bought and abolished?

I hate to be so cynical about an organization that's trying to do good, but before I send money to anyone, I want to see some solid proof that they are run competently and have some kind of accountability. I've worked in non-profits my whole life and cannot believe these folks don't have people up their ass demanding to see their books.

[Hestia]

26. Go to the links and read the FAQ - all the questions you just asked are answered.

and yes, I have donated to the fund.

[intheflow]

28. I read the link on the OP.

It said they bought $1M in debt when in December they said they were ready to give $9M in debt. They said they had $350k to spend on buying debt in December, but they've only spent $21k of it. The RJ transparency page has more updated information, but they have no specifics. It doesn't answer my question about where the people are who they've helped (why has no one come forward to publicly thank them?), nor does it address why so little of the funds they've raised (now over $500k) has be spent on debt ($21k). So no, my questions really aren't answered yet.

[AllyCat]

30. I'm not sure of the accounting, but why would someone come forward to thank them...

...and if they did, who would report it? The media is not going to talk about this stuff when the folks that pay their bills don't want them to report it.

I just can't see anyone in the height of financial uncertainty, taking time out of the other nightmares they have going on to make sure the world knows what happened to them.

Wish I could answer your other questions. I can't. But I have a high degree of confidence and have also donated to them several times.

[intheflow]

31. Maybe CNN would report it.

Maybe CNN could actually do some investigative reporting on the story other than just basically read Strike Debt's press release. And your naivete about what the press chooses to report is touching; the MSM routinely reports half truths and whole lies and hours upon hours of worthless nonsense.

Like I said in my original response, I hope this is really happening. But I also want to see hard numbers attached to real people whose lives have been impacted. Then I will be your sister in donating to this cause.

[annabanana]

24. there used to be something called a Jubilee, wherein all debts were forgiven

and people could start over.

This Occupy activity is called a "rolling jubilee" and it is one of the very best activities that Occupy does.

[Liberal_in_LA]

32. some black churches do this. Pick a few people to pay off all their debts.