MANHEIM, Pa. — A Lancaster County church has led a statewide effort to help forgive more than $3 million in medical debt for Pennsylvanians.
Hope Episcopal Church in Penn Township began the effort more than a year ago with a goal of just $2,000. Since then, more than 120 Episcopal churches in Pennsylvania have raised over $30,000 in contributions.
The churches have partnered with the non-profit RIP Medical Debt, which purchases medical debt from healthcare providers in the same way debt collectors do, with the purpose of forgiving it completely. The group targets lower-income patients for debt forgiveness and says it can forgive the debt of 100 times the amount of a donation.
The campaign began two years ago when the daughter of Rev. Bradley Mattson was stricken with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of six.
"We took her to the pediatrician, and she tested positive for strep," Mattson said. "But she was also very thirsty. And so the doctor performed a test to assess what her blood sugar was, and she was crashing. At that point, we would have lost her if we waited just a couple hours longer."
She was transported from Lancaster General Hospital to Philadelphia, where she spent a full week. The cost of the hospital stays and the ambulance left the Mattsons with a bill of around $15,000.
"When you're navigating two different health systems, and then medical transportation between those health systems, that's sometimes where it comes," Mattson said.
While the family did have insurance, the cost of the continued diabetes treatment has added up, and Rev. Mattson says he realized just how much ordinary people had to contend with medical debt.
"As we talked about this experience with our own family, it started to resonate with certain members of our congregations who started to do some digging around what this is like for everybody," Mattson said. "And they've made some shocking discoveries. We found out that over half of all collections activity in this country is medical related."
Mattson was inspired to start the campaign by parishioner Rob Gokey, who got the idea from watching a segment on the TV show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver."
"I told him that I found something that would help people in this situation," Gokey said. "It was one of those things where it's almost too good to be true.
Rev. Mattson and the Episcopal community plan on celebrating the $3 million milestone on Sunday at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Lebanon. The group plans to tear a ceremonial medical bill to symbolize the forgiven debt.
For Rev. Mattson, the continued campaign to forgive even more debt is an extension of his faith and his ministry.
"We can start to make the world a better place. We can love each other and our community, we can lift each other up and our community," said Mattson. "Forgiveness is at the very center of the Christian message."