Two Women Erased $1.5 Million of Strangers' Medical Debt Just Because They Felt Like It

Judith Jones and Carolyn Kenyon are two New Yorkers who are passionate about the New York Health Act, a bill that would bring universal health care to the state. Jones and Kenyon are 80 and 70 years old, respectively, but according to the New York Times, they didn’t want to just wait around for that to happen—so they rallied their friends and neighbors and raised $12,500 for the non-profit R.I.P. Medical Debt.

R.I.P. Medical Debt buys up people’s old medical bills and forgives them. With Jones and Kenyon’s donation, the organization bought up $1.5 million in medical debts, belonging to thousands of people in need across New York. The non-profit focuses on alleviating the debts of those who really cannot afford to pay their bills, like those who earn less than two times the federal poverty level.

Coolest of all is that Jones and Kenyon did not just convince people to throw in some money, but tried to educate them on how medical debt can take over people’s lives. “We tried to get people interested in the seriousness of medical debt,” Jones said, “and lead them to understand that when the New York Health Act passes, that will be the end of medical debt because everyone will be covered.”

Here, here. And while R.I.P. Medical Debt can’t make it so that people don’t have disgustingly high hospital bills to begin with, it’s nice to see two sensible ladies take up the issue in their community and have an effect on 1,284 New Yorkers’ lives. The bar for being that bitch has just been raised.