The Campaign
Medical Debt Free for Christmas is a student service project bringing together Lake County families, leaders, businesses, and organizations to cancel over five million dollars of our neighbors’ medical debt through fundraising $21,000 by Christmas.
Why Medical Debt?
Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States—more than 100 million Americans are impacted by the weight of over $200 billion in past-due medical bills. Medical debt is not a choice and affects both uninsured and insured families. It is often the result of unexpected illness or accidents.
How It Works
Undue Medical Debt uses data analytics to pinpoint the debt of those most in need: households that earn less than 4x the federal poverty level (varies by state and family size) or whose debts are 5% or more of annual income.
Undue Medical Debt buys medical debt at a steep discount. They buy debt in bundles – millions of dollars at a time – at a fraction of the original cost. This means your donation relieves about 100x its value in medical debt. On average, on every $1 donated, $100 medical debt can be abolished.
The Power of Your Dollar
While the average debt relief provided for each $1 donation is ~$100, Lake County’s debt portfolio has a $1 to $250 dollar cancellation ratio!
This is a high-impact fundraising campaign where every dollar donated goes to purchasing the medical debt of our community members and families. It directly helps residents of Lake County and requires no application. Recipients get surprise letters that their debt has been erased. Just like that, their debts are gone!
About Me
Hi! My name is Matthew Gregg, and I am a 15-year-old dual enrollment student at Lake Sumter State College planning to graduate in the spring of this year with my associate’s degree and a concentration in engineering. As I work through my final courses in Lake County, I wanted to look outside the classroom for projects that make a difference in our great community—because without their support I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Unfortunately, medical bills impact our lives in challenging, unexpected ways. We are blessed with hospitals, doctors, and healthcare workers who provide critical care and place us on our personal roads to recovery—but that road is often blocked with unaffordable medical bills. When I learned about Undue Medical Debt and their decade of experience canceling over $13 billion (!) in debt, I knew that was a mission I wanted to be a part of.
So this holiday season you will find my Grandma and I out on the town looking for partners to join us and give back to our Lake County families. We’re dreaming of a medical debt-free Christmas-let’s make it a reality.
Contact: debtfree4xmas@gmail.com
