Fair Fight Action Donation Clears Medical Debts for Thousands in the South

News

By Alyssa Wilson Published: October 28, 2021

Fair Fight Action Donation Clears Medical Debts for Thousands in the South

Former Georgia House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has already narrowed the field by saying he will pick a woman. In addition to Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, other names that have been part of the speculation are Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Abrams. (AP Photo/Michael A. McCoy, File)

In Summary

Fair Fight Action has donated more than $212 million to eliminate the medical debts of thousands in the South.

Fair Fight Action, led by Stacey Abrams, has donated millions of dollars to pay off the medical debts of people living in a few selected southern states.

According to a press release from the organization, the money was donated to the nonprofit organization RIP Medical Debt. It will be contributed to paying off the debts of 108,000 people in Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Fair Fight Action CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo said the effort to pay off medical debt is a part of the group’s advocacy to expand Medicaid coverage to the 12 states that have refused to expand health insurance. “What is so important about this is the tie between Medicaid expansion and just crushing medical debt,” she said.

Letters in yellow envelopes will be sent to people whose debts will be relieved. More than $212 million will be allocated across five states including:

$123,193,570.70 for 68,685 people in Georgia
$17.476,259.35 for 8,265 people in Louisiana
$1,857,166.42 for 1,953 people in Alabama
$2,350,757.12 for 2,058 people in Mississippi
$67,904,064.13 for 27,282 people in Arizona

Abrams founded Fair Fight in 2018 after losing Georgia’s gubernatorial race. The organization is mostly known for advocating for voting rights, but it has also been pushing for health care protections.

Abrams is passionate about the issue of health care coverage. “ I know firsthand how medical costs and a broken healthcare system put families further and further in debt,” she said. “Across the sunbelt and in the South, this problem is exacerbated in states like Georgia where failed leaders have callously refused to expand Medicaid, even during a pandemic.”

Fair Fight’s donation is the third-largest donation RIP Medical Debt has received and it is the largest gift focused on the South.