<p>When flight paramedic Rita Krenz boards a helicopter, she knows her patients are about to face problems she can’t fix — a health care system that buries people in debt after a car accident or stroke.</p>
<p>So she decided to do something about it. She turned for help to RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that buys and forgives medical debt.</p>
<p>Krenz started a fundraising campaign that brought in more than $18,000 for the charity. That money has helped RIP Medical Debt forgive the debt of more than 900 people so far, with the average bill abolished totaling around $1,340.</p>
<p>Krenz has no way of knowing if she will help anyone she’s treated. But it’s enough to know that her campaign will help somebody. </p>
<p>“A lot of my friends in health care are worn down by this broken system,” the Charlottesville, Virginia, resident said. “This, it helps give some relief to that weariness.”</p>
<p>Krenz flies several times a week during her 24-hour shifts, responding to emergencies like car accidents or transporting patients from hospital to hospital. The 47-year-old said she started her career focused idealistically on the help she could provide.</p>
<p>“Years in the system now fill me with doubt,” Krenz wrote on her fundraiser’s <a href="https://secure.qgiv.com/event/rkrenz/">webpage</a>, noting that she wonders how life-saving care can lead to financial ruin. “How can this be our system, in this amazing country?” </p>
<p>Rising care costs and shrinking insurance or a lack of coverage can swamp patients with debt, especially if they need a helicopter, which can result in bills topping $20,000 in some cases. More than one in seven U.S. residents with a credit record has overdue medical debt on it, according to the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. </p>
<p>It’s one of the most common forms of debt in collections.</p>
<p>RIP Medical Debt relies on individual donations, corporate sponsors and fundraising campaigns to attack this problem. Krenz started her campaign last September after first hearing about the nonprofit. </p>
<p>She asked friends, family and co-workers for help. RIP Medical Debt promoted her campaign as well, but donations stalled at around $10,000.</p>
<p>Then they picked up again toward the year’s end. A church Krenz has no connection to gave $1,000. A couple she doesn’t know contributed $2,500.</p>
<p>That run, Krenz said, was so “uplifting and reaffirming that there are good people in the world.”</p>
<p>She also threw in money from her pandemic relief stimulus checks, and the campaign climbed past its goal of $15,000.</p>
<p>RIP Medical Debt buys blocks of older debt it can get cheaply and aims to help people with low incomes. It can buy debt in a particular area or market, but it cannot target specific people. </p>
<p>The nonprofit estimates that it has erased more than $3 billion in medical debt since two former debt collections executives started it in 2014. Much work remains.</p>
<p>About $140 billion in medical debt was in collections last year, according to Stanford economist Neale Mahoney.</p>
<p>Erasing debt can make it easier for patients to buy a car or get a job. It also can encourage them to keep up with their care since they don’t have to worry about medical bills they still owe.</p>
<p>Once RIP Medical Debt buys and forgives debt, it sends patients a yellow letter telling them things are resolved. For Krenz, that made what she was doing feel more real than simply writing a check to a charity.</p>
<p>“I can picture a person going to the mailbox and getting that letter,” she said.</p>
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<p>“One Good Thing” is a series that highlights individuals whose actions provide glimmers of joy in hard times — stories of people who find a way to make a difference, no matter how small. Read the collection of stories at <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/one-good-thing">https://apnews.com/hub/one-good-thing</a></p>
