Occupy Wall Street purchases $15 Million of Americans’ Medical Debts
The Rolling Jubilee Project, a spin-off of Occupy Wall Street, has purchased nearly $15 million worth of personal medical debts, and has forgiven the debts.
The group spent $400,000 to buy the debts at a fifty-to-one ratio. This random act of kindness has liberated 2,693 people who had been overwhelmed by medical expenses. A message at the Rolling Jubilee website says:
“Think of it as a bailout of the 99 percent by the 99 percent.”
Remember: Sixty percent of American bankruptcies are caused by medical bills.
Here’s another article that says “Occupy Wall Street’s debt buying strikes at the heart of capitalism.”
The article makes some interesting points. It closes with:
“And if your instinct is to point out that $15 million is so small a drop in the ocean as to be insignificant, my response would be: not to the 2,693 people who received that letter. The sparkle of a lit fuse is, by its nature, humble.”
posted by Tom Harper @ 1:20 PM
3 Comments:
That's so great. I was just thinking today how nice it would be if one of our multi-billionaires would step up and help solve the ACA mess (at least to some degree).
This reveals just the top of the iceberg. I have always been wondering what will happen when the country "gets on it's feet again" and then the banks etc., who have been bailed out already will come with their hands out, and the cops behind them to collect on the rest of us years down the road.
Erik
Jim: That would be nice. Where's George Soros when we need him?
Erik: I hope that doesn't happen. I just saw a story today on MSNBC that the largest banks have been downgraded by Moody's. But it's good news. They were downgraded because Moody's concluded that if there's another meltdown, these banks were unlikely to get bailed out by the government. The banks' investors would have to do the bailing out themselves.
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