ST. JOSEPH — Harbor Country Mission, Lake Street Community Church and I CAN Cafe have raised enough money to clear more than $1.5 million in medical debt for more than 1,000 Michigan families in Berrien, Van Buren and Cass counties.

“Our joint project is intended to ease the burden of excessive medical bills, which is the number one cause of personal bankruptcy,” said Dave Heyn, executive director of Harbor Country Mission at a recent meeting of the Berrien County Board of Commissioners.

The three organizations have worked with RIP Medical Debt, a New York-based charity, to erase medical debt for more than 1,000 Michigan individuals or families in southwest Michigan. Because RIP Medical Debt acquires debt for a fraction of the value, the organizations are able to pay $15,000 to abolish $1.5 million in medical debt.

“More than $100 billion in unpaid medical debt every year has an adverse impact on debtor patients, physicians and hospitals, and more than 52 percent of Americans have a medical collection action on their credit reports,” said David Yardley, director of development for Harbor Country Mission.

RIP buys and forgives “portfolios” of medical debt from health care providers and from the secondary debt market, which allows them to forgive thousands of people’s debts at once. RIP is not yet able to handpick and forgive personal medical debt for individuals. When RIP purchases a portfolio of medical debt, it abolishes debt for those who earn less than two times the federal poverty level, whose debts are five percent or more of annual income and are facing insolvency, meaning their debts are greater than their assets.

“RIP is proud to stand with Harbor Country Mission on this important project to relieve a minimum of $1.5 million of medical debt in Berrien, Van Buren and Cass counties.” said RIP Medical Debt director of development Scott Gannon Patton. “RIP Medical Debt’s mission is to empower donors to forgive the billions in oppressive medical debt at pennies on the dollar.”

Pastor Dalton Stanage of Lake Street Community Church said he sees how medical debt hurts his church members’ health.

“When you’re already in debt because of your health care, you let chronic illnesses go until it’s an emergency. People don’t go to the doctor, they don’t get their medications filled,” he said. “Too many people are just one medical emergency away from a bankruptcy.”

As soon as the debt is purchased, the debtors will receive a letter in the mail letting them know their debt has been forgiven.