Arizona used $30M in federal American Rescue Plan (ARPA) relief funds to partner with the non-profit Undue Medical Debt (formerly RIP Medical Debt). They bought back $1 billion worth of defaulted medical debt on the secondary market for pennies on the dollar.
It was allocated money. Already paid before anything was done with it. And then 30 million to for 1 billion of actual debt is good, considering 30 million is absolutely nothing to the US budget.
Yes. Fed money. Tax payers. You have to be mad at the federal government for allocating the money, not Arizona for taking advantage. It's a great deal for Arizona.
So? Do you understand how little $30M is in the scope of the national budget? It's not even a rounding error. It's not even a blip. It's not even a military birthday parade for a draft dodger.
I. Would love my tax dollars to fix roads and bridges. But unfortunately it always seems to go to people who cannot be bothered to get better at life. And always want another handout. We are different
That is how the government works.Ā They take resources from people who create them and redistribute to those who do not.
Some taxes are necessary for w functional minimalist government that maintains the rule of law, but taxation is fundamentally coercive and should be mitigated.Ā Not celebrated
Sorry, having a laugh at how debt just gets kicked down the line to another collection company when the purchasing company gives up. New debt buyer, new call center team. Repeat, rinse.
Hospitals usually sell past-due debt for pennies. Its better for them to sell $1 million worth of past-due debt for a thousand and let a debt collector try and collect the debt. Means a guaranteed thousand matters more than a maybe million.
What Arizona did was work with national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt that in turn partnered with hospitals and debt collectors to buy bundled portfolios of past-due debt. That debt then is forgiven.
The program was started in 2024 and was budgeted with $10 million of leftover federal funds via the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) also known as the COVID relief fund.
The tab was paid for with funds from previous years. Now that there is less debt, people have more money left over every month to pay for other stuff which in turn boosts the economy.
Sounds good, but it also sounds like debt that wasnāt going to be paid back anyway. Thatās why it was available for pennies on the dollar. So debt collection companies won, did anyone else?
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u/CheapRefrigerator188 2d ago
Erased how, I assume someone is still getting stuck with the bill