Stacey Abrams is back at it again!
In addition to getting one million people registered to vote, Abrams has been working hard to clear the path to the ballot box for all Americans and now, she’s helping over 100,000 people who are facing a very real crisis.
Earlier this week, Abrams’ organization, The Fair Fight Political Action Committee announced it made a $1.34 million donation to help wipe out medical debt for more than 100,000 people.
Abrams’ group donated to RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that assists people in clearing medical debt –– one of the main causes of bankruptcy in the US. With the gift, 108,000 people across Georgia, Arizona, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama will get assistance with the $212 million they owe for medical bills.
“What is so important about this is the tie between Medicaid expansion and just crushing medical debt,” Fair Fight CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo told NPR. Fair Fight has been working to get Medicaid coverage expanded in the 12 states have refused, so they stepped in.
“I know firsthand how medical costs and broken healthcare system put families further in debt,” Abrams tweeted.
Of the states the group targeted, Arizona and Louisiana have opted to expand coverage, the others have not.
The donation will wipe clear the medical debt of 69,000 Georgians, 8,000 people in Louisiana, over 27,000 people in Arizona, and about 2,000 people in both Mississippi and Alabama.
RIP Medical Debt received a $50 million donation last year from MacKenzie Scott. Fair Fight’s gift is the organization’s third-largest yet.
Since it started, RIP Medical Debt has helped over 3 million people get from under medical debt, by buying the debt from collection agencies at steep discounts. The group estimates to have paid off more than $5.3 billion in face value medical debt for people.
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