Erasing medical debt: How you can help SWFL

WINK News’ campaign to help southwest Florida erase medical debt continues.

“A lady T-boned us. We ended up airborne and rolled around several times,” Tamara Leaman said in a previous interview.

Leaman knows all too well that life can change in an instant.

“At one point I counted over 50 envelopes in one month that I opened and doctors bills,” Leaman said in a previous interview.

It’s a multi-million dollar issue right here in Southwest Florida.

Craig Antico, of RIP Medical debt said, “$400 million is owed to doctors and hospitals and it’s just devastating.”

That’s why WINK News teamed up with the charity, RIP Medical Debt. The company buys old medical debt for a fraction of the original total, and then forgives it, erasing it right off your credit report.

“It’s a gift to these people from you, the donor,” Antico said.

So far, with your generous donations, we’ve raised about $50,000. That will forgive more than $5 million of debt for people buried under bills. Anyone helped will remain anonymous because of privacy laws, but we’d like to hear about your story and share it with others.

Area residents should look for a yellow envelope in the mail.

“It’ll say RIP Medical Debt on the outside and on the inside, it will talk about WINK TV and their efforts to abolish medical debt in the area,” Antico said in reference to the envelope description.

WINK News received a $10,000 donation from Storm Smart to go specifically toward helping pay off veterans’ old medical debt.

WINK News is also pledging the next $10,000 raised to do the same.

Click HERE to make a donation.