Professional Nursing and Student Nurse Organizations Team Up with RIP Medical Debt to Erase Medical Debt During the Pandemic
Families continue to struggle during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this December, the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association (PSNA), the Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA), the Pennsylvania chapter of the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM-PA), the Student Nurses at Penn (SNAP), the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), and other nursing organizations in the state are collaborating to abolish medical debt through RIP Medical Debt.
RIP Medical Debt is a national 501(c)(3) with a mission to locate, buy, and forgive medical debt for individuals, veterans, and families. RIP Medical Debt uses the donations to purchase bundled medical debt portfolios that have gone through collection agencies for months or years. PSNA and its partner organizations have set a goal to forgive $3.5 million of medical debt for patients to commemorate the nation’s 3.5 million registered nurses serving and leading on the pandemic’s front lines.
“During the pandemic, thousands of Americans have lost their health insurance,” said PSNA President Tarik Khan. “For some families, that means going into medical bankruptcy.”
“Nurses have been nothing short of heroic as they go above and beyond to serve our community,” said PANA President Angelarosa G. Didonato. “This RIP effort is just one more collective, selfless act from nurses to help alleviate suffering and make this difficult holiday season a bit brighter.”
Using third-party credit data providers, RIP Medical Debt targets debt incurred by people facing financial hardship and then forgives it. Since its inception in 2014, RIP has relieved more than $2 billion in medical debt for individuals across the U.S., impacting over 1.7 million individuals. One-hundred percent of each donation goes toward abolishing medical debt.
Donate today at https://secure.qgiv.com/event/psna/. There is no process for people to apply to have their medical debt forgiven. The debt is picked at random. The money raised by PSNA, PANA, ACNM-PA, the Student Nurses at Penn, PASNAP, and other nursing organizations will go to erase debt in the U.S.
“Together, we can wipe out medical debt,” said Allison Sesso, Executive Director of RIP Medical Debt. “People across the country receive a letter that their debt is gone. No taxes. No penalties. Just like that, they’re free of medical debt.”