L.A. Church to Pay Off $5.3M in Medical Debt for Thousands of Poverty-Stricken Households
A Los Angeles church is giving a generous gift to those that need it the most this holiday season.
Tom Hughes, the co-lead pastor at Christian Assembly Church, announced in a video that the church would be paying off $5.3 million worth of medical debt of the poor in 28 neighborhoods.
“Because of the generosity of Christian Assembly Church, we are able to give a Christmas gift to the people of Los Angeles, no strings attached,” Hughes said.
Hughes added that “medical debt is a crushing weight” and that they mapped out neighborhoods where they have 15 or more households who attend the church, totaling 28 neighborhoods.
“We’ve worked with the nonprofit organization, RIP Medical Debt,” he said. “We’ve learned that in these 28 neighborhoods, there is $5.3 million worth of outstanding medical debt that is owed by people who earn less than twice the federal poverty line.”
Thanks to the church, each person will receive a letter in the mail informing them that their medical debt has been paid off. The church and RIP Medical Debt will also work with the credit unions to repair the credit damage from people’s medical debt.
“As they recover from their illness, it will help them get back on their feet and avoid homelessness,” Hughes said, noting that the gesture will impact over 5,000 households in the area.
ABC7 reported that the church collected about $50,000 in the past year. While unsure of what to do with it initially, the church ultimately decided to use those funds towards the Christmas gift this year.
Church member Blythe Hill told the outlet that he “would love to be a fly on the wall” when someone receives the letter that their medical debt has been paid off in full.
“God is for you and we are excited to share this gift of generosity because of the generosity of our God,” Hughes said.
