The Arconic Foundation, through a partnership with national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, has helped abolish nearly $30 million in medical debt for communities near Arconic facilities in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, and Tennessee. (The Arconic Davenport Works in Riverdale employs about 2,500 workers.)
Individuals who qualified received a letter in Undue Medical Debt-branded envelopes recently, letting them know some or all their medical debt is gone.
Undue Medical Debt uses a unique method to tackle the healthcare crisis around medical debt. Undue buys large bundles of delinquent medical bills at steep discounts from hospitals, health systems, and other providers, as well as the secondary market, for pennies on the dollar. Instead of collecting on the debts, it simply eliminates them, providing immediate relief to those in need. Arconic Foundation funded this relief through an investment of $200,000.
“While many people recognize the medical debt crisis and the burden it places on families, Undue Medical Debt is leading with bold action to help people and is quietly changing lives,” said Ryan Kish, Arconic Foundation president. “Undue’s scalable and efficient model does more than relieve debt, it spreads compassion and generosity in our communities.”
Over 26,000 individuals benefited from this abolishment, with an average debt of $1,127 eliminated. The recipients live in multi-county areas near Arconic’s U.S. facilities, including those in the communities of Davenport, Alcoa, Lancaster, Lafayette, Springdale, Massena, Bloomsburg, Cranberry, and Pittsburgh. This includes more than 2,775 residents in the Quad Cities, where over $3.5 million in medical debt was eliminated.
Undue uses income and debt criteria to identify people in financial need and select the debt that they purchase. To qualify, individuals must have an income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level (just over $100,000 for a family of three) or have medical debt that is 5% of their income or more.
Debt relief is source-based, which means Undue can only abolish debt belonging to community- minded partners that are willing to partner with the nonprofit. Individuals cannot apply directly, and selected recipients remain anonymous, unless they choose to share their story with Undue.
Nationally, more than 100 million people are burdened by medical debt to the tune of $220 billion. Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. People with medical debt are also three times more likely to experience mental health burdens like anxiety or depression and significantly more likely to skip or delay mental healthcare.
The Arconic Foundation partners with nonprofit and community organizations to enhance education through skill-building learning experiences, advance environmental sustainability, and meet essential human needs. Arconic Foundation is funded by an independent endowment and invests in the communities of Arconic.
Undue Medical Debt is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2014 by former debt collectors. To date Undue has acquired — and abolished — over $49 billion of burdensome medical debt, helping over 31 million families and addressing a major social determinant of health. Undue purchases debts for a fraction of their face value in bundled portfolios and partners with individuals, faith-based organizations, local and state governments, foundations and corporations to empower donors by converting every dollar contributed into $100 of medical debt relief on average.
