LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — About 128,000 people in Nevada opened their mail this month to find something unexpected: a letter saying their medical debt had been wiped out.
The relief comes from non-profit organization Somos Votantes as part of their Seeds of Relief program. The organization bought up old hospital and collection accounts, purchasing and erasing $133 million in medical debt.
“The medical debt is keeping people from growing, keeping our families from investing in their future,” said Angel Lazcano, program manager of Nevada for Somos Votantes.
How the program worked
Lazcano said their fundraising team spent the last year working toward this moment.
“They’ve been doing amazing work fundraising through a network of grassroots, very generous donors and everyone who helped us, who saw the vision, saw what we were doing with our other events, and believed in us to make this happen,” Lazcano said.
People qualified if their income was at or below four times the federal poverty level or if their medical debt was a large chunk of their income. There was no application process required.
“You didn’t need to sign up with us or anything like that,” Lazcano said.
Personal impact
One of those letters landed in the mailbox of Maria Yanez Gonzalez, an immigrant and mother who has spent years working low-wage jobs while dealing with health problems and medical bills she could never fully catch up on.
“Honestly, I feel super blessed, super grateful to the organization, more than anything, because I was one of thousands, and then there are two, not one, there are two debts they paid,” Gonzalez said in Spanish.
Now that her medical debt is gone, Gonzalez said she has a little more room to breathe and invest into the new year.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s a good thing I didn’t throw the letters away,’ and honestly, I feel very grateful,” she said.
Somos Votantes said this is just the first round of Seeds of Relief in Nevada, and they are already looking for more ways to help families struggling with medical debt. The organization advises people to read any letters carefully before tossing them, as they may not be another bill at all.
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