American churches clear millions in medical debt in communities

In an illustration of “goodwill to all men” over the recent Christmas and New Year period, an American church has cleared $1.5 million in medical debt for people struggling in its local community. It is one of several churches who have decided to raise funds to pay off medical debt in recent years.

Rev. Mark Moore Jr., of Spirit and Truth Church in Atlanta, Georgia, made the announcement about the debt clearance, partnering with nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, at a church service on Dec. 21. This followed an earlier $1 million cleared in medical debt by the multi-campuses church last year.

The “debt jubilee” echoes the principle of debt clearance commanded by God to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 15:1-2: “At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.”

"Medical debt should never determine a family's future or rob individuals of dignity and peace. This Christmas, Spirit and Truth Church chose to respond with faith in action — lifting a burden that no one should have to carry alone," Moore reportedly said in a press statement.

He clarified the church’s position on its social media pages as to why the initiative had been taken.

"In the middle of rising insurance costs and healthcare changes, we didn't ask what should the church do… we answered it. Letters are being sent. Burdens are being lifted. Hope is being restored," said Moore. 

The recent debt pay-off in Atlanta is part of a growing movement; other churches participated in similar initiatives throughout 2025. In July, Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Omaha, Nebraska, erazed $2.5 million for Nebraskans struggling with medical debt. In North Carolina, Trinity Moravian Church ran several annual campaigns each summer into late last year, wiping out at least $21 million across five local counties.

Utilizing a "Debt Jubilee" model, Saint Andrew’s Parish in Saratoga, California, raised $15,260 to purchase and wipe clear $2.32 million in medical debt. By buying debt at a massive discount through a third-party nonprofit, the single congregation cleared all qualifying debt in Santa Clara County and seven neighboring counties. Additionally, 71 congregations of the Moravian Church in America pulled together to clear $11 million in late 2024 and early 2025, helping 13,000 families in the U.S. and Honduras.

Nonprofit organizations like Undue Medical Debt can erase medical debt by making use of the economics of the secondary debt market, where hospitals sell unpaid accounts in large portfolios to recoup minor losses. 

Because these bundles of "bad debt" are statistically unlikely to be paid, they are sold to collectors for a fraction of their face value, often at a rate of one cent for every dollar owed. By purchasing these portfolios at the same steep discount, a nonprofit can use charitable donations to buy millions of dollars in debt and immediately abolish it. This intervention prevents private collectors from pursuing the balances, clears the financial obligation for low-income patients without triggering a tax penalty, and helps restore the credit standing of the affected individuals.

The human cost of medical debt in the U.S. is staggering, according to latest data from the Kaiser Family Foundation and West Health-Gallup. The country, despite its wealth, is facing $194 billion in medical debt as of late 2025. 41% of American adults have some form of medical debt and, in the past 12 months, Americans borrowed $74 billion to pay for healthcare.

A 2025 National Debt Relief survey found that parents in debt are twice as likely to neglect their own physical health and 50% more likely to skip meals.

42 percent of parents in debt took on new debt last year to cover prescription costs for their children, often at the expense of their own medications for chronic conditions such as asthma or hypertension.

"Debt is quietly dictating the choices parents make for their families every day, from skipping meals to shelving college savings... parents are twice as likely to neglect their own health as those not in debt," said a National Debt Relief Consumer Report from August 2025.