A California Couple Wiped Out $550 Million In Medical Debt For Many Families.
More than 261,000 California families are waking up to news that will change their lives, and they have a Los Angeles couple to thank for it. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and his wife, model and entrepreneur Miranda Kerr, made a multimillion-dollar donation to the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, setting in motion the erasure of more than 550 million dollars in unpaid medical bills for California families all across the state. The nonprofit buys medical debt in bulk at a deep discount, meaning that for every ten dollars donated, one thousand dollars of medical debt is cancelled on behalf of families who qualify, and the organization has now erased more than 40 billion dollars in debt across all 50 states. Recipients do not have to apply, fill out any paperwork, or do anything at all: beginning in mid-July, qualifying Californians will simply start receiving letters in the mail informing them their debt is completely gone.
The relief targets families earning at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or those carrying medical debt that exceeds five percent of their annual income. Medical debt is currently the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, and surveys show that Californians now name it as their top financial concern, ranking it above worries about the broader economy. Spiegel and Kerr explained their motivation simply, saying that when someone is sick or recovering, the focus should be on healing and caring for the people you love rather than on bills that can follow a family for years. This is not the first time the couple has stepped up for California: after the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, Spiegel personally donated five million dollars in immediate aid and committed ten million more to long-term recovery through an initiative called the Department of Angels.
