CLEVELAND — If you receive a yellow envelope in the mail – don’t throw it away. What’s inside could be life changing.
Inside the yellow envelopes are letters saying we’ve purchased --- and canceled --- your unpaid medical debts.
If you get this letter you no longer need to pay the outstanding medical bill referenced in the letter.
We’ve taken care of it for you.
Jonathan Walsh spoke with Frank Wiley and our Facebook audience about the Diagnosis Debt Rescue initiative:
Last August, 5 On Your Side investigator Jonathan Walsh launched a series of reports called Diagnosis Debt which helped Clevelanders solve problems with their medical bills.
But, reporting about medical bills was just the beginning.
Medical debt is a cause of more than half of bankruptcies in the U.S.
Ohioans have more than $1.8 billion worth of medical debt.
Click here to see how much medical debt each state has.
We had to do more.
So, News 5 made a $15,000 donation to RIP Medical Debt, a non-profit that buys and then cancels unpaid medical debt. Because debt is bought and sold over and over again by debt collectors, our donation will abolish $1.5 Million of medical debt in Northeast Ohio.
Some important information:
- This forgiveness is for this outstanding bill only. We have not forgiven any other medical debt you might owe.
- News 5 has no control over whose debt is erased. Our non-profit partners worked with debt collectors to buy as much debt as they could.
- Your privacy is protected. Medical records remain with the physician or hospital.
If you’ve received a letter we’d love to hear from you:
- Call the 5 On Your Side Investigators at 888-WEWS-TIP (888) 939-7847
- Email the 5 On Your Side Investigators at investigatortips@wews.com
- Tweet @WEWS with the hashtag #WEWSDebtRescue
- Or just fill out the form on the right side of the screen
Please continue to send us your medical billing issues as well. We will continue to help sort out those issues.