The Presbyterian Outlook

News and Articles from the The Presbyterian Outlook

Register Login Donate Subscribe

Top Search/Contact Area

  • Be A Fan

  • Follow Us

  • Photos

  • Pin It!

    • Home
      • About us
      • Advertise with the Outlook
      • Submissions
    • Presbyterian Hub
      • Editorials
      • Outlook Features
      • Digital Issues
      • Editor’s viewpoints
      • What’s right?
      • Let’s connect
    • News +
      Current Affairs
      • Outlook Reporting
      • Presbyterian News Service
      • Religion News Service
      • News from other sources
    • Ministry + Theology
      • InSights Opinions
      • Benedictory
      • Guest commentary
    • Faith + Culture
      • Book Reviews
      • He/She Said
      • Movie Reviews
    • Ministry Resources
      • Outlook Standard Lessons
      • Outlook Horizons Studies
      • Worship Resources
      • Looking into the lectionary
      • Bulletin Inserts
      • Webinars
      • Hymns
      • Faith Formation Resources
    • Outpost Blog
    • Classifieds
      • Classified advertising

    Small contributions add up: Idaho church plays big role to reduce state’s medical debt

    November 5, 2019 by Leslie Scanlon Leave a Comment

    So many people are just one car accident, one slip on the ice, one complicated pregnancy, one bad diagnosis away from a tsunami of medical debt.

    So many people live paycheck to paycheck, with rent due and student loans to pay back and a balance on their credit cards so big it hurts to look at it. They’re barely making everyday life work financially, much less able to pay for a trip to the hospital.

    What if churches could do something about that – by using their resources to pay off a chunk of their community’s unpaid medical debt? Or what about individual Presbyterians, or a group of family or friends? Here’s a story about two women from New York state, a retired chemist and a psychoanalyst, who raised $12,500 to erase medical debt for people in their region.

    Marci Glass, pastor of Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho, understands something about people with huge medical bills and no ability to pay them. She knows a young man from the church she serves who has struggled with substance abuse, but then turned things around — he found a job and was building a better life. Then he contracted pneumonia and ended up in the intensive care unit. Because he couldn’t go to work, he lost his job and his health insurance – and now his medical bills are huge.

    Photos provided by Marci Glass

    Because Idaho is one of the states that resisted an expansion of the Medicaid program – it finally came as a voter initiative that the legislature fought – another woman from Glass’ congregation has been living with no health insurance. Like a lot of others, she falls in the gap — she makes too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to be able to afford to purchase health insurance on the open market.

    Stories like these – what she’s seen in her own congregation and community – were what forged a connection when Glass watched an episode of comedian John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” show, and heard him talking about forgiving medical debt through a nonprofit called RIP Medical Debt.

    The idea is this: When hospitals and health care providers have uncollected medical debt – all those thousands of dollars they charge people who don’t have health insurance or which the insurance won’t cover – the medical providers often sell that debt to debt consolidators, for pennies on the dollar. So the hospitals make a little money by selling the debt. And the debt collection firms purchase the opportunity to go after people for much larger sums of money than they paid to acquire that debt.

    After seeing Oliver’s show, Glass brought the idea to the church’s session last summer of having Southminster come up with the money to erase $1.5 million of medical debt in Idaho – which would mean raising at least $15,000, the minimum that RIP Medical Debt requires in order to target debt relief efforts in a particular geographic area, Glass said. RIP takes on medical debt that’s been incurred but not yet sold to a debt collection agency – its website says the nonprofit has so far abolished $919 million in medical debt, and estimates that Americans owe approximately $1 trillion in medical debt accumulated over the last eight to 10 years.

    Glass said hers is “not a congregation with a lot of cash around” – Southminster typically has about 140 in worship. But she told the session that coming up with $15,000 could erase about $1.5 million in medical debt for people in Idaho, and that might be one way to live into the commitment of being part of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Matthew 25 initiative, which includes trying to address systemic poverty.

    Erasing the debt “doesn’t actually fix the system,” said Glass, who serves on the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board. “The system of health care delivery is still putting people in debt and bankruptcy. But at least it would put some people away from predatory debt collectors.”

    Southminster raised about $9,500 – through individual donations and group efforts. A retired woman made greeting cards and sold them during the church coffee hour, then matched money she’d raised – amassing about $350 for the cause. A crafting group held a holiday market on Southminster’s lawn, contributing some of the proceeds.

    And the Presbytery of Boise voted Nov. 2 to contribute $5,500 – putting the effort over the $15,000 mark.

    Idaho currently has $907,000 in medical debt available for purchase, she said – the debt of 549 people that hasn’t yet gone to consolidators. The rest of the funds likely will go to erase medical debt in Arizona.

    What has Southminster learned from this?

    Small contributions add up.

    Mission can go beyond traditional church projects. Presbyterians can be involved in the deepest concerns of a nation and community, such as mass incarceration, hunger, the opioid epidemic, educational inequities, and more.

    Pay attention. Make connections. Listen broadly. Ideas for creative ministry can come from everywhere.

    Share this...
    Share on Facebook
    Facebook
    Pin on Pinterest
    Pinterest
    Tweet about this on Twitter
    Twitter
    Share on LinkedIn
    Linkedin

    Outlook Reporting Tags: More News - Homepage

    Trackbacks

    1. What's right about Southminster Presbyterian Church? - The Presbyterian Outlook says:
      January 16, 2020 at 5:00 am

      […] Read more of this congregation’s story here — Small contributions add up: Idaho church plays big role to reduce state’s medical debt […]

      Log in to Reply
    2. Presbyterian Outlook recognized at Best of the Christian Press Awards - The Presbyterian Outlook says:
      May 6, 2020 at 5:01 am

      […] mention for a news story:  Small contributions add up: Idaho church plays big role to reduce state’s medical debt by Leslie […]

      Log in to Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Related Posts

    • LPTS women’s ordination anniversary celebration

      LOUISVILLE -- In some ways, the anniversaries of women's ordination that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is in the midst of celebrating this year -- 100 years for deacons, 75 years for elders, 50 years for ministers -- are momentous, historic events. And in other ways they are like a panorama…

    • Billy Graham brings his crusade to Louisville

      Speaking Thursday night, June 21, to a crowd of 37,500, the 82-year-old evangelist who's been revered for more than 50 years, spoke of the racial tension "smoldering underneath" American cities today. "The only answer to the race problem is love," Graham said -- and God is love. He later told…

    • Outlook reporter, art director honored by Associated Church Press

      Bailey won an honorable mention for best redesign. During the past year — his first with the magazine — he oversaw improvements in both the appearance and printing of The Outlook. Scanlon also received a first-place award for "professional resource" for an article she wrote for U. S. Catholic on…

    Current Issue

    • Feb 22
    • Feb 8
    • January 18
    • Dec 28
    • Subscribe
    • Give a Gift
    • Read Online
    • Most Commented
    • Most Popular
    • GA meeting site in Baltimore to be converted into field hospital A decision may be getting closer about whether to hold the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – set...
    • Moving Forward Implementation Commission takes administrative action The Moving Forward Implementation Commission voted June 18 to take administrative action in five areas — with some of the...
    • Debate over relationship between San Francisco Theological Seminary and the PC(USA) may rise at General Assembly  When is a historically Presbyterian seminary no longer a "Presbyterian seminary”? That question is on the docket for the 224th General...
    • Churches go back to the future with drive-in services in the time of the coronavirus (RNS) — When it came time to pass the peace Sunday at Pathway Baptist Church, Senior Pastor Mike Donald didn’t...
    • Advent devotions — 2020 (Year B) Advent time: Devotions for the congregation Are you looking for theologically sound, inspiring and affordable Advent devotions for the congregation? The Presbyterian...
    • PC(USA) General Assembly affirms that Black lives matter; pledges to work against systemic racism The 2020 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted overwhelmingly June 26 to approve a resolution declaring that Black...

    Keep the Faith

    Sign Up for Updates and Breaking News in your inbox

    Facebook

    Tweets by presoutlook
    Follow Us

    View Stories From

    • Presbyterian Hub
      • Editorials
      • Outlook Features
      • Digital Issues
      • Calendar Check
      • About People
        • Anniversaries
        • Ordinations
        • Retired
        • Deaths
        • Transitions
      • Archives
    • Faith + Culture
      • Book Reviews
      • Movie Reviews
      • He/She Said
    • Ministry + Theology
      • InSights Opinions
        • For Church Leaders
        • Faith Matters
        • Multichannel Church Report
        • #amen
        • Commentary
        • Benedictory
      • Liturgical Year
        • Advent
        • Lent

    The Latest:

    February 28 — Abraham and Sarah: Family faith formation @ home

    February 25, 2021

    Becoming Brave: Finding the Courage to Pursue Racial Justice Now

    February 25, 2021

    Holy promises — Christian ed at home

    February 24, 2021

  • Tweet With Us
  • Be A Facebook Fan
  • Our World in Photos
  • Pin With Us
  • CONTACT US:

    1 N. 5th St., Suite 500

    Richmond, VA 23219

    T: 800-446-6008F: 804-353-6369

    [email protected]

    Or ▶ Fill Out Our Contact Form

    © Copyright 2021 The Presbyterian Outlook. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement. Website Design by Poka Yoke Design

    • About us
    • Presbyterian Hub
    • Ministry Resources
    • Classifieds
    • Advertise with the Outlook
    • Submissions
    7ads6x98y