National charity RIP Medical Debt just wiped out $278 million of medical debt for over eighty thousand Americans, Wall Street Journal reports

Passengers wearing face masks wait for their bus in front of a national debt display on Pennsylvania Ave. NW in Washington on Monday, May 18, 2020

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• A national charity is wiping out $278 million in medical debt for 82,000 low-income Americans.
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National charity RIP Medical Debt announced on Tuesday that it will buy $278 million of medical debt from hospitals in Tennessee and Virginia, in a bid to help low-income patients struggling with debt, according to The Wall Street Journal.

It's the first time the charity has reached a deal with a hospital to wipe out medical debt. Patients from Ballad Health, which operates hospitals in Virginia and Tennessee, will be the first to see some of their debts wiped.

According to the report, many of the 82,000 people who will receive the financial assistance should have qualified for free care under Ballad's policy, and executives at Ballad claimed that many hadn't applied for it.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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