Families across the United States have accumulated $141 billion in medical debt. Alabama is contributing a significant amount to that figure.
According to the Urban Institute, 21% of Alabama families have some medical debt—and in some counties, that figure rises to 33%. There are 1.1 million adults in Alabama with unpaid medical bills.
One Alabama woman who had an emergency appendectomy said she would have rather her husband have let her die than to have accumulated so much medical debt. Because of her life-saving surgery, the couple currently owes $37,000. Though they are making their monthly payments, they are still being sued by the hospital for not paying fast enough.
But her story is not unique. There are hundreds of thousands of other uninsured people across Alabama, unable to access affordable healthcare or paying for it dearly if they do.
That’s because Alabama is 1 of the 12 states that have yet to expand Medicaid, leaving many in the Medicaid gap where they make just enough not to qualify for help. These people are usually the working class. Expanding Medicaid would make these 300,000 people eligible in the state of Alabama.
Until they get coverage, churches and other organizations are stepping in to help. Many are partnering with RIP Medical Debt in order to forgive loans and help Alabama families get back up on their feet.
In Birmingham, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church was able to forgive $8.1 million of debt for nearly 6,500 families through the partnership.
Just this week, Stacey Abrams' organization, Fair Fight, announced it had bought $212 million in medical debt across the South, forgiving the debt of 108,000 families. In Alabama alone, it forgave $1.8 million for 1,953 individuals. These families will receive yellow envelopes notifying them that their debt has been paid this week and next.