Man who had his medical debt paid by John Oliver speaks out
In June, comedian and Last Week Tonight host John Oliver purchased $14.9 million dollars worth of medical debt for just $60,000.
It seemed almost too good to be a true -- a simple, hilarious sketch designed to produce great ratings. But on reddit Tuesday, user EricHill submitted a letter he claimed he received from the comedy show, explaining that his debt had been resolved.
Not only had the comedian paid the debt, he also alleviated Eric of having to pay any taxes on his "cancellation of debt" income. That's because the series paid for Eric's debt through "RIP Medical Debt," as a 501(c)(3) charity. Eric's debt was paid off, no strings attached.
The show cautioned that this was for this medical debt only and not future medical debts.
Here's the text of the letter:
According to RIP Medical Debt, the nonprofit is working to help relieve $1 billion worth of medical debt. Oliver connected to the charity as part of his piece on predatory debt collection policies that force people to pay debt on medical bills they sometimes no longer owe.
The charity works to find those most in need, and then negotiates to purchase that debt at a reduced price:
"Such reduced rates typically are available only to large organizations in the debt buying industry," the site reports. "Once medical debt is purchased, RIP then forgives the debt, abolishes it, and informs the debtors that they are forever free from that debt."
John Oliver, if you're interested in canceling any of my debts -- college, medical, electric, gas, rent -- feel free to contact me anytime.
Topics John Oliver
Heather was the Web Trends reporter at Mashable NYC. Prior to joining Mashable, Heather wrote regularly for UPROXX and GOOD Magazine, was published in The Daily Dot and VICE, and had her work featured in Entertainment Weekly, Jezebel, Mic, and Gawker. She loves small terrible dogs and responsible driving. Follow her on Twitter @wear_a_helmet.
