THE FOLLOWING IS A MEDICAL BILL AND CLAIM RESOLUTION RELEASE
Danville, IL (October 19, 2023) – Medical Bill & Claim Resolution (MBCR), in partnership with First Baptist Church of Bloomington, is thrilled to announce the extraordinary success of their recent campaign to alleviate medical debt. Through their collaboration with RIP Medical Debt, a national non-profit organization, the joint campaign has successfully wiped away over $3.5 million of medical debt for more than 4,400 individuals first in central Illinois then statewide.
Founder of MBCR, Sunni Patterson, expressed her gratitude for the outpouring of support stating, “The campaign support is a win-win that allows significant progress in alleviating the emotional toll of medical debt for individuals and families alike throughout Illinois.”
Originally aiming to eliminate $1.2 million of patient medical debt, MBCR’s campaign far exceeded expectations, providing much-needed relief to those burdened by healthcare expenses. Among the 72 counties that received debt relief, the three Illinois counties most impacted were Champaign, St. Claire, and Whiteside. The highest number of individuals receiving relief are from Champaign, Kane, and St. Claire. These results highlight the widespread impact of medical debt and the urgent need for such initiatives.
In a conversation with Neuhoff Media, Patterson stated that concern about this issue began from working in the medical industry, and seeing how much trouble consumers were having. Patterson says that in Vermilion County alone results have far exceeded expectations.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: (In Vermilion County,) the partner, Rest in Peace Medical Debt, the amount of debt that they had asked us to eliminate; we were able to take care of the entire amount. And the average amount of debt per patient was just a little bit over $1,000.
“I think the amazing outpouring of support we’ve seen here is an indication of both a great compassion for people suffering under the burden of medical debt and the joy of coming together as a community to be able to do something concrete about it, ” says Rev. Brian Hastings, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Bloomington.
RIP Medical Debt acquires medical debt bundles then using data analytics, pinpoints the debt of those most in need: households that earn less than 4x the federal poverty level (varies by state, family size) or whose debts are 5% or more of annual income. RIP is able to wipe out 100 times its value in medical costs. Furthermore, all donations were tax deductible, with 100% of the funds applied directly to canceling debt. RIP also works directly with hospitals and physician groups to purchase and forgive dormant medical debt.
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About Medical Bill & Claim Resolution (MBCR)
Medical Bill & Claim Resolution (MBCR) is a patient medical billing advocate service based in Danville, Illinois. MBCR provides patients with tools to confidently self-advocate problem medical bill and insurance claim issues.
Learn more at medicalbillandclaimresolution.com.
About First Baptist Church of Bloomington
The First Baptist Church of Bloomington is a diverse community centered in Christ. We are committed to a Biblical faith lived out together, directed by God’s Spirit, rooted in the person of Jesus, and made visible in acts of compassion, justice, reconciliation, and evangelism. We are part of the American Baptist Churches USA, and gladly partner with others in matters of faith and care for the community and world. Learn more at firstbaptistbloomington.org.
About RIP Medical Debt
RIP Medical Debt is a national non-profit organization that purchases debt portfolios from healthcare systems and cancels the debt for qualifying recipients. Since its inception in 2014, RIP has been instrumental in alleviating the burden of medical debt for millions of individuals across the United States. Learn more at ripmedicaldebt.org.
Contact Information
Contact Person – Sunni Patterson, Founder
Organization Name – Medical Bill & Claim Resolution (MBCR)
Email – mbcr@medicalbillandclaimresolution.com
Contact Person – Rev. Brian Hastings, Pastor
Organization Name – First Baptist Church of Bloomington
Email – brian@fbcblm.org
Contact Person – Daniel Lempert, VP, Communications
Organization Name – RIP Medical Debt
