108,000 people with medical debt are getting $212 million in relief, thanks to help from Stacey Abrams
Medical debt in America currently totals $140 billion, and failure to expand Medicaid in some states has pushed those people to carry huge hospital bills. Stacey Abrams — a prominent Democratic activist — donated $1 million to change that.on October 27 that Abrams' Fair Fight Political Action Committee donated $1.34 million to the nonprofit organization RIP Medical Debt to wipe out $212 million in medical debt for 108,000 people in Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
"I know firsthand how medical costs and a broken healthcare system put families further and further in debt," Abrams said in a statement."Across the Sunbelt and in the South, this problem is exacerbated in states like Georgia where failed leaders have callously refused to expand Medicaid, even during a pandemic."
While Arizona and Louisiana have expanded Medicaid, Republican leadership in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama have blocked the expansion, making the medical debt burden in the South 30% higher than for those in the North. Fair Fight also noted that rural hospitals are closing at a rate 4.5 times higher in states that are not expanding Medicaid, compared to those who are.Georgia:$17.476,259.35 million in debt relief for 8,265 individuals;$2,350,757.
That's why a number of Democratic lawmakers have had expanding Medicare coverage, and reducing medical debt, on their agendas. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sandersduring his presidential campaign to eliminate medical debt altogether, and Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, who represent states without the Medicare expansion, introduced legislation in July to allow the federal government to expand coverage to those states.
"Expanding Medicaid is the single most effective solution to closing our state's coverage gap," WarnockSign up for notifications from Insider! Stay up to date with what you want to know.