Michigan
Related: About this forumGrand Rapids church pays off almost $2M in medical debt for Michigan families
Nearly 2,000 western Michigan families will get letters this week announcing that all of their medical debt has been paid off by a local church.
Grand Rapids First, a Wyoming, Michigan, congregation, is covering 1,899 families medical debts almost $2 million in total across four Michigan counties. Through RIP Medical Debt, a New York-based debt purchasing nonprofit, Grand Rapids First paid pennies on the dollar to purchase $1.8 million in debt for about $15,000, according to the churchs executive pastor and CFO Doug Tuttle.
Grand Rapids First is now one of more than one dozen churches throughout the nation that have worked with RIP Medical Debt to tackle medical debt, an issue that contributes to two-thirds of U.S. bankruptcies. The Michigan debt repayments cover families in Kent, Ottawa, Allegan and Ionia counties that will be notified of the gift via letter from RIP Medical Debt some time this week. Tuttle said the largest single debt the church paid off was more than $75,000 in medical charges that were spread over three debt accounts belonging to one person. The gift is covered by Grand Rapids Firsts missions fund, so Tuttle said no church-wide fund-raising was necessary.
Church leaders dont know the identities of the people theyre helping, or if any of them are part of Grand Rapids First's congregation medical privacy laws mean only RIP Medical Debt knows the gifts recipients. But Tuttle said RIP is intentional about choosing recipients who will most benefit from debt forgiveness, like people whose debt is disproportionate to their income or who already live in poverty.
With the gift, Grand Rapids First also hopes to reflect the mission of Christ and echo a biblical repayment of sins. The congregation wasoverwhelmed when lead pastor Sam Rijfkogel announced the payment plan Sunday morning, Tuttle said. "Today, that $1,832,439.26 that's looming over families right now, those families that are living at poverty rates or less, has been paid in full as a result of a gift from this church," Rijfkogel told the congregation during his Sunday sermon. "Paid in full, not held against them one bit."
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/07/01/grand-rapids-first-church-medical-debt/1617429001/
Demovictory9
(33,412 posts)safeinOhio
(33,804 posts)That figures.