Wooster church approaching $2-million of medical debt forgiveness

Westminster Presbyterian Church, located on the campus of the College of Wooster, is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a medical debt forgiveness campaign.

Beginning in late February, Westminster initiated a Mustard Seed campaign to forgive medical debt for Wayne and surrounding counties. It partnered with Undue Medical Debt.org (formerly RIP Medical Debt org) to assist in forgiving local medical debt for households earning less than 4 times the federal poverty levels or whose debts are 5% or more than annual income.

Undue Medical Debt purchases huge quantities of medical debt at a steep discount. Westminster asked its congregation and the community to support the campaign by making a charitable contribution to Westminster or to unduemedicaldebt.org/mustard-seed. A $100 charitable donation forgives about $10,000 of debt.

Westminster’s initial goal was to raise $10,000 from its congregation and the community, which forgives about $1 million of debt.

“We were very pleased how quickly our congregation and the community responded. After reaching this goal, our church leaders voted to increase it to $20,000,” said the Rev. Eniko Ferenczy, Ph.D., Westminster’s pastor.

At the end of the campaign, Undue Medical Debt will prioritize the funds, first for Wayne County, then in Ashland, Holmes, Medina, Stark and Summit. Recipients will receive notification of the debt cancellation as part of Westminster’s Mustard Seed campaign.

According to recent surveys, almost every day one in two Americans choose between paying medical bills and covering basic needs. Nearly 50% of U.S. adults delayed or skipped medical care due to the high cost. Medical debt is a leading cause of bankruptcy and lingers on a person’s credit report preventing millions of people from achieving financial stability.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Westminster Presbyterian Church ups goal for medial debt forgiveness