St. Paul’s and RIP Medical Debt – Article from Episcopal News Service

Brendan Murphy on February 17, 2023

[Diocese of Pittsburgh] An updated report reveals that one Pittsburgh-area church was able to eliminate nearly $7.2 million in medical debt across all of Pennsylvania, more than doubling its initial expectations.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon partnered last fall with RIP Medical Debt, a New York-based non-profit that buys large quantities of debt at a steep discount and then erases that debt with no further obligation or consequence for the individuals who benefit.

St. Paul’s raised several thousand dollars beyond its $15,000 donation target and received an additional $15,000 matching gift from an anonymous parishioner.
Based on RIP’s basic formula where every dollar raised pays off $100 in debt, the parish then reported that it expected to relieve just over $3 million in debt, mostly in Allegheny County.
RIP recently informed St. Paul’s that it had completed the purchase of medical debts that could be erased through the parish’s donation. The organization was able to secure more debt for less money and used St. Paul’s $34,600 to relieve a total of $7,197,077 in debts well beyond southwestern Pennsylvania.

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