May 12, 2020   SOURCE: PR NewsWire

MNA Nurses and Healthcare Professionals Abolish Nearly $1 Million in Medical Debt for Massachusetts Residents Struggling with Healthcare Expenses

CANTON, Mass., May 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The registered nurses and healthcare professionals of the Massachusetts Nurses Association provided $15,000 to the not-for-profit RIP Medical Debt to purchase and abolish nearly $1 million in healthcare debt for residents in every county of Massachusetts. The effort settled an average debt of $1,410 for 698 people struggling with unpaid medical expenses.

RIP Medical Debt is a nonprofit that buys and forgives medical debt across America. RIP works with individual donors, philanthropists, and organizations to purchase medical debt for pennies on the dollar to provide financial relief for those burdened by impossible medical bills. To learn more visit: www.ripmedicaldebt.org. In 2019, RIP Medical Debt announced that it had abolished $1 billion in medical debt for more than 500,000 people in all 50 states (including $65 million of debt owed by veterans).

"Healthcare is a human right and no person should have to choose between food, education or housing and healthcare expenses," said RN and MNA President Donna Kelly-Williams. "By joining together, our nurses and healthcare professionals were able to wipe out the medical debt of nearly 700 people in Massachusetts.

"During the COVID-10 pandemic many residents, especially in lower income communities, are experiencing serious financial distress," Kelly-Williams said. "We hope this action will provide relief to families so they can focus on the health and safety of their loved ones. Our goal is a society in which people do not have to worry about healthcare access and cost. Until then, nurses and healthcare professionals on the front lines will never stop advocating for a more just healthcare system."

Massachusetts Nurses Association Medical Debt Purchase Report

                   County 
     
     Recipients 
     
     Amount Abolished             
     
     Average Abolished

    ---

        Barnstable
         County                       29                       $27,136.33                         $935.74

    ---

        Berkshire
         County                       13                       $10,752.92                         $827.15

    ---

        Bristol
         County                       14                        $5,688.32                         $406.31

    ---

        Dukes County                   1                          $407.02                         $407.02

    ---

        Essex County                   6                        $2,578.46                         $429.74

    ---

        Franklin
         County                        9                        $3,516.80                         $390.76

    ---

        Hampden
         County                       78                       $96,434.81                       $1,236.34

    ---

        Hampshire
         County                       10                       $10,052.97                       $1,005.30

    ---

        Middlesex
         County                      228                      $433,920.18                       $1,903.16

    ---

        Nantucket
         County                        2                        $3,774.66                       $1,887.33

    ---

        Norfolk
         County                       26                       $21,398.70                         $823.03

    ---

        Plymouth
         County                       19                       $21,959.55                       $1,155.77

    ---

        Suffolk
         County                       10                       $70,502.33                       $3,710.65

    ---

        Worcester
         County                      244                      $276,220.14                       $1,132.05

    ---

                   TOTAL             698                      $984,343.20                       $1,410.23

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See MNA COVID-19 information, including letters to Gov. Baker, position statements, videos and more at www.massnurses.org/COVID-19.

MassNurses.org ? Facebook.com/MassNurses ? Twitter.com/MassNurses ? Instagram.com/MassNurses

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association