KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) A group of Kansas City-area doctors have donated about $11,000 to help pay off medical bills for hundreds of patients in Missouri and Kansas.
The Midwest Direct Primary Care Alliances donation announced Monday will buy $1.47 million worth of medical debt on behalf of 784 patients in the two states, the Kansas City Star reported. The alliance is comprised of 21 medical clinics where doctors dont take health insurance and instead charge patients a monthly membership fee.
About 19 doctors and nurse practitioners who work for alliance clinics donated the money to RIP Medical Debt, said Allison Edwards, owner of Kansas City Direct Primary Care in Kansas City, Kansas. The New York-based nonprofit buys bundles of unpaid bills from collection agencies and medical providers for pennies on the dollar.
In our society, weve decided that health care is a commodity and were going to have to pay for it in some way or another, and until that changes, were going to have to figure out a way to help people, Edwards said.
She said the doctors dont know whose medical bills were covered by their donation, but RIP Medical Debt focuses its efforts on military members, veterans and low-income patients. To be eligible, patients must make less than twice the federal poverty limit, have medical debts that outstrip their assets or have medical debts that are more than 5 percent of their annual income.
The debt forgiveness is delivered in a letter that arrives inside a golden envelope.
