Columbus couple plans to pay off $2.2M in medical debt for local residents. Here’s how.

A local nonprofit has partnered with a national campaign to rid Columbus and Phenix City residents of $2.2 million in medical bills this holiday season.

The charity, Feeding Accepting Inspiring The Hurting, or F.A.I.T.H, has teamed with RIP Medical Debt, a national 501(c)3) organization that uses donations to buy bundles of medical debt at a discount and forgives it.

Every dollar donated equates to $100 of debt forgiven, according to the RIP Medical Debt website.

Columbus resident Pat Gant is the CEO of F.A.I.T.H., which she founded earlier this year to help people who are struggling due to medical bills or other life events.

She says that it will take $22,000 to abolish medical debt currently held by the neediest residents of Columbus and Phenix City, and she’s asking for the community’s support to make it happen.

“This is a vision that I had because I was involved in a car accident, I broke my back in two places, and I couldn’t do anything for two years,” Gant said. “ I thought about it and if I didn’t have insurance at the time when I was in the accident...my heart just went out for people that don’t have insurance.”

Gant decided to partner with RIP Medical Debt, which uses “precise data analytics” to find the medical debt portfolios of those most in need. That includes those who are below twice the federal poverty level, insolvent or going through hardship. RIP purchases the debt at significantly reduced rates and forgives it.

F.A.I.T.H’s fundraising campaign launched November 21 and runs through February 28.

“Once we pay the debt off people will get a letter in the mail, in a big bright yellow envelope, stating that their medical bills have been paid off by their good friends at F.A.I.T.H,” Gant said. “I know during this holiday season people are just going to be so happy to know that their medical bills were paid off.”

Gant and her husband James have lived in Columbus for 41 years. He is a State Farm Agent as well as pastor at Corinth Missionary Baptist Church. Pat works as his office manager.

They founded F.A.I.T.H. in January and along with helping those struggling with medical issues and hospital bills, they also help people going through domestic abuse. .

Gant said she is excited about the RIP partnership because she knows through her own experience that it is hard to get well with medical debt hovering over you.

“There are many people and families struggling to pay exorbitant and overpriced medical bills due to high deductibles so I’m just asking people to be compassionate and to donate to this worthy cause,” Gant said. “We are here on this earth to help others, we are the hands and feet for people who cannot go forth and do what they need to do, because of sickness.”

You can donate to the fundraising campaign at secure.qgiv.com/event/faith/.

RIP Medical Debt reports they have forgiven over $964 million in medical debt and provided financial relief tomore than 480,000 families and individuals across the nation since the organization was founded in 2014 by former debt collection executives Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton.

McClatchy, which owns the Ledger-Enquirer, partnered with RIP Medical Debt in a project launched at the end of 2018 to help ease the financial burden of veterans who were uninsured and have mounting medical debt. The campaign was called “The War Within Initiative” and led to more than $5 million worth of debt being forgiven.

This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 5:00 AM.