This congregation wipes out medical debt together, putting politics aside : NPR

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Some issues, like immigration or student loans, are too divisive to unite Trinity Moravian Church.

“We’ve got quite a spread of political beliefs,” says the Rev. John Jackman, who leads this 114-year-old red-brick church near Winston-Salem’s old textile mills. Conservative Republicans sit with liberal Democrats. Supporters of President Trump mix with his fierce critics. “It’s definitely a purple congregation,” Jackman says.

But four years ago, when Jackman suggested a new church mission to alleviate medical debt for residents of the wider Winston-Salem area, there was no dissent. “This is the easiest money I’ve ever raised,” he says. “All I do is tell people what we’re doing, and they write me a check.”

A matter of fairness

Few issues have been more politically explosive in recent years than healthcare, pitting Democrats and Republicans in bitter debates over the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and other flash points.

Yet moved by the sense that the medical debts their neighbors faced were deeply unfair, members of Trinity Moravian, no matter their politics, rushed to write $25 or $50 checks to pay off the bills. They helped advance a movement by churches across the state and the country, and they inspired North Carolina government officials to tackle medical debt. The effort drew plaudits from conservative radio host Glenn Beck.

The little church’s success also highlights a patch of common ground in American healthcare — the widespread frustration shared across the political spectrum that so many patients are ending up in debt.

Earlier this year, Trinity wrapped up its eighth medical debt campaign, part of what the church calls its Debt Jubilee Project. This one raised more than $17,000. That helped retire more than $2.2 million in debt. Medical debt can be bought for pennies on the dollar because creditors believe most debts won’t be paid.

Nationwide, an estimated 100 million adults have some form of healthcare debt. More than half of U.S. adults have had such debt at some point in their lives.