Christian Charity

[ysabetwordsmith]

My partner Doug tipped me to an article about real Christian charity.

St. Bede’s Episcopal Church in Santa Fe, NM is reaching out to families crushed by medical debt through a big gift and a big partnership. Through donations, the parish wiped out nearly $1.4 million of medical debt for 782 households. [...] That includes all the available debt in New Mexico, plus Apache, Gila, Graham, Mohave, Navajo, and part of Maricopa County in Arizona.

This demonstrate that it is possible for society to fund health care, and it doesn't require the government. Buying up medical debt at a huge discount and writing it off would be much cheaper than paying full price.

And of course, I'm pleased to see that somebody actually read the Book. Things like "Give all that you have to the poor and follow Me" and "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, that you do also to Me."

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Reminds me of something I read on the internet the other day, which was essentially:

The people who sincerely believe the tenants of the church are the ones who leave...because they actually follow the teachings of Jesus. And the church doesn't.

Also, I wonder

A) what effect this will have on the local economy, and

B) how complicated it would be to anonymously pay off hospital Bill's pr set up a PayPal to buy medical debt or something?

[thewayne]

Very nice!

Today I'm going to be paying off the last of our current medical debt. We got clobbered with $2k in one month, it's taken me two or three months to clear that because the State made a change in how it treats my antibody med. Now they're charging it as a pharmacy drug against my insurance instead of a major medical expense as it had been done for the prev decade. Makes a huge difference to those of us with immune disorders who work for universities and other roles directly and indirectly for the State.