A church in Des Moines has paid off the medical debt for the state of Iowa this holiday season. The congregation at Capitol Hill Lutheran Church raised around $8-thousand to buy and forgive medical debt and then partnered with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that purchases large amounts of medical debt at a discount and gets rid of it with help from donors.
Reverend Minna Bothwell says they asked how much money it would take to forgive all the medical debt in Polk County and they responded, “With what you have, you could forgive debt in all of Iowa.” The congregation’s eight thousand was able to wipe out a total of $5-million in medical debt.
Now that the church has taken care of Iowans, they’re looking to expand to Missouri and hope to raise $15-thousand over the next few months. "2020 has been a rough year for everyone," Bothwell says. "Hopefully, when people receive this news, they start the year off better with a significant weight off their shoulders."
Source:Des Moines Register
Photo Credit: Getty