The average American is one medical accident away from being destroyed financially. These bill collectors woke up to the brutality of their industry – and are using their insider knowledge to save strangers from hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.
Jerry Ashton was a debt collector working on Wall Street when the Occupy Wall Street movement started. He became interested, and eventually partnered with them and his friend Craig Antico to help abolish strangers’ medical debts as part of their “Rolling Jubilee” fundraising campaign. Using their insider knowledge of the debt collections business, they were able to help buy medical debts for pennies on the dollar and then forgive them. After Occupy moved in a different direction, John Oliver did a show highlighting their work, and Jerry and Craig gained fresh momentum. Together they have now eliminated nearly $600 million in medical debts.