ATLANTA — Democrat Stacey Abrams is running ads claiming she paid off the medical debt of thousands of Georgians in her 2022 campaign for governor.
In early TV ads, Abrams claims she paid off medical debt for 68,000 Georgians.
"I’ve done my part to help families make it through – paying off medical debt for 68,000 Georgians," Abrams says in an ad.
The claim is raising questions among viewers, like John Clement who asked our team to verify the ad that has surfaced ahead of the Georgia primary election in May.
Abrams is the sole Democratic nominee in the race for governor. As her GOP counterparts campaign for a spot on the ballot, she's pumping money into attracting as many voters as possible ahead of the November election.
The Question
Did Stacey Abrams pay off medical debt for thousands of Georgians?
The Sources
- Federal Election Commission
- RIP Medical Debt, nonprofit
- Fair Fight Action
The Answer
Yes, Abrams did pay off medical debt for at least 68,000 Georgians. She did it via contributions from her nonprofit, however, she may have not paid as much as what patients were being charged.
What We Found
The nonprofit Abrams founded, Fair Fight Action, made two contributions to RIP Medical Debt, valued at $1.34 million, according to federal election records.
RIP Medical Debt buys – at a substantial discount – uncollected debt from medical providers.
The site’s home page says “every $100 you donate relieves $10,000 in medical debt.”
“They are purchasing that debt at a vastly discounted rate from what was charged to the patient,” said Scott Patton, director of development at RIP Medical Debt, in an interview with 11Alive sister station WMAZ-TV.
The discounted transaction relieves the providers from trying to collect the debt themselves while clearing the debt owed by patients.
RIP Medical Debt used the Fair Fight contribution to pay 108,000 uncollected accounts in states including Arizona, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia.
The organization provided records showing that 68,709 Georgians had their medical debt cleared under the transaction.
This verified that Abrams, by way of her nonprofit, and another nonprofit, cleared the medical debt of at least 68,000 Georgians.
RIP Medical said the Fair Fight gift was the third-largest in the seven-year history of the nonprofit.
Abrams' organization cleared the debt by paying an average of about $12.50 for each account cleared – a tiny fraction of the original debt.