OREM, Utah– Nomi Health, the direct healthcare company rewiring how healthcare is paid for and delivered, today announced it has partnered with RIP Medical Debt to eradicate more than $225 million in overdue medical bills. Nomi’s near $2 million contribution to purchase the outstanding debt relieves more than 176,000 Americans across Utah, Florida, Colorado and Nebraska of their debt loads. The money owed had accumulated from surprise billing and high healthcare costs before the pandemic—and for some has led to wage garnishment, liens, and other burdensome debt collection tactics. The debt Nomi absolved is for individuals who meet RIP’s criteria of living at two times or below the poverty line, or those whose debts are 5 percent or more of their annual income.
“We founded Nomi on the belief that healthcare needs to work better for all of us, yet so often it functions best for those who are well-resourced instead of those who need it most. Serving over 10 million Americans and 40,000+ patients a day through the pandemic, there is no doubt that COVID-19 will only exacerbate this national crisis of growing medical debt, burdening everyday American families,” said Mark Newman, CEO and co-founder, Nomi Health. “Our mission at Nomi is to simplify healthcare purchasing, delivery and lower costs. The great work that RIP Medical Debt is doing aligns strongly with our mission, and is only the beginning of our work to alleviate medical cost burdens and limited access to care that people need. It is also just one way we can say thank you to the millions of Americans who entrust the Nomi team with their COVID testing, vaccination and care.”
The debt relief from Nomi Health is RIP Medical Debt’s largest corporate gift since the organization’s founding in 2014, totaling nearly $2 million to relieve $225 million in medical debt. From the very beginning of the pandemic, Nomi applied its direct healthcare model to deploy COVID-19 vaccine and testing directly to people in hard-to-reach communities across Utah, Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, Iowa and Texas — from rural towns and agricultural farms to public housing facilities and prisons.
Nomi’s debt relief payments serve:
- Florida – Over $118 million of healthcare debt will be forgiven for nearly 100,000 state residents;
- Utah – Over $100 million in healthcare debt will be relieved for more than 73,000 residents, focused on rural and socio-economically impacted communities;
- Colorado – Over $5 million dollars in healthcare debt — RIP Medical Debt’s entire current state portfolio — will be abolished for over 5,500 state residents; and
- Nebraska– Nearly $75,000 in healthcare debt — RIP Medical Debt’s entire current state portfolio — will be wiped out for the entire state.
“Beyond our work abolishing medical debts, RIP is increasingly interested in coalition building with like minded organizations to envision a better system of financing healthcare,” shares RIP Medical Debt’s executive director Allison Sesso. “Nomi is a valued partner whose contribution will ease the burden of pre-existing debts for thousands of people and is also working to make the system itself more equitable, a goal we can get behind.”
Today, nearly one fifth of all Americans struggle to afford healthcare services, according to a recent Gallup study. Additionally, recent JAMA research found that unpaid medical bills are the largest source of debt with collection agencies for Americans. Patients benefiting from Nomi’s contribution will receive branded RIP letters in the mail confirming their debt pay off starting October.
