A Nice Story for a change

 I will be kinda tied up this weekend, so thought I would leave y'all with a feel good story for a change.

Just to get away from all the hyperbole, angst, and doom and gloom.

N.Y. woman clears $108M of other people's medical debt — after dying of cancer

Casey McIntyre's insurance kept her debt-free. Other patients, she soon learned, weren't as fortunate

When Casey McIntyre was planning her own memorial service, she decided she didn't want it to be all doom and gloom.

The 38-year-old New Yorker had stage four ovarian cancer. And as her condition worsened, she knew she'd soon be leaving behind her husband and 18-month daughter.

But she decided to also leave behind a legacy — one that would change the lives of Americans saddled with hospital bills they can't afford to pay. 

"Casey is a very joyous person and we wanted there to be an element of joy to the ceremony," her husband, Andrew Rose Gregory, told As It Happens guest host Peter Armstrong. "And we had this idea for, you know: What if we raise money to relieve debt?"

A bespectacled woman with a buzzcut looks out over a lake while holding a baby girl and kissing her on the temple. The baby, wearing a colourful striped onesie, looks directly into the camera.
Gregory says he'll one day be able to tell his daughter Grace about her mother's generosity and impact. (Submitted by Andrew Gregory)

More than 100 million people in the U.S. have medical debt, according to a 2022 nationwide survey by non-profit research group KFF in partnership with NPR. The survey suggests one quarter of adults owe more than $5,000 US ($6,790 Cdn), and one-in-five people with medical debt said they don't expect to ever pay it off.

According to RIP Medical Debt, it's the No. 1 factor leading to bankruptcy in the U.S.

Here's how the charity works.

Debt is a commodity that can be bought and sold. A lot of debt never gets paid off so institutions sell it in bundles, at a discount, to third-party collectors.

He and McIntyre first heard of RIP Medical Debt last March when they read about a North Carolina church that used the charity to erase about $3.3 million US worth of debt in their area. They immediately became monthly donors. 

When McIntyre's health started to take a turn for the worse, she came up with the idea of turning her funeral into a fundraiser for the charity.

More on this inspiring story:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/us-medical-debt-charity-1.7043821

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