Stacey Abrams group donates $1.34M to wipe out medical debts
The political organization led by prominent Democrat Stacey Abrams is branching out into paying off medical debts. The Fair Fight Political Action Committee on Wednesday told The Associated Press it has donated $1.34 million from its political action committee to the nonprofit organization RIP Medical Debt to wipe out debt with a face value of $212 million that is owed by 108,000 people in Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of allied group Fair Fight Action and senior adviser to the PAC, said paying off medical debt is another facet of the group’s advocacy seeking expansion of Medicaid coverage in the 12 states that have refused to expand the health insurance to all poorer adults. “What is so important about this is the tie between Medicaid expansion and just crushing medical debt,” Groh-Wargo said. Of the states targeted, Arizona and Louisiana have expanded Medicaid. Fair Fight said letters will be sent to those whose debts have been absolved to notify them. The purchase will forgive the debt of nearly 69,000 people in Georgia, more than 27,000 people in Arizona, more than 8,000 people in Louisiana, and about 2,000 people apiece in Mississippi and Alabama. The group has raised more than $100 million since Abrams founded it after her 2018 loss in the Georgia governor’s race. Fair Fight has been most noted for its advocacy of voting rights but has also been pushing for broader health care. The group launched ads last week demanding that Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp add Medicaid expansion to the list of topics that Georgia lawmakers will consider in a special session starting next week to redraw electoral districts. Democrats are hoping Abrams will run against Kemp again in 2022. A narrow loss to Kemp in 2018 launched Abrams into political stardom. “I know firsthand how medical costs and a broken healthcare system put families further and further in debt,” Abrams said in a statement. “Across the sunbelt and in the South, this problem is exacerbated in states like Georgia where failed leaders have callously refused to expand Medicaid, even during a pandemic.” RIP Medical Debt said Fair Fight is giving the third-largest donation in its history. Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave the group $50 million last year. The group has aided more than 3 million people since it was founded in 2014, typically buying bundles of medical debt at steep discounts from the face value. The bills often are purchased from collection agencies that have been trying to get debtors to pay for years. The group has wiped out debt with a face value of more than $5.3 billion. Allison Sesso, executive director of RIP Medical Debt, said such liabilities often drive people into bankruptcy, can deter people from seeking needed medical care, and can lead to wages being garnished or liens filed on property. “I wouldn’t underestimate the mental anguish that people have from medical debt,” Sesso said. Sesso said her group is not just pursuing debt abolishment “but thinking about how we can improve the system nationwide,” trying to advocate that hospitals should do more to make charity care available. She also said research shows states that expanded Medicaid have lower rates of medical debt. “We are not the permanent solution,” Sesso said. “There does need to be a larger solution around what we do about medical debt.” Groh-Wargo said the money was given by donors for political action but said the money represents “only a small percentage” of what Fair Fight has raised. “I think of this as politically tithing to help the community we are advocating for and with,” Groh-Wargo said, saying the group has done smaller scale charitable efforts. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Napoleon Bracy selected for highly competitive Stacey Abrams Fellowship
Alabama State Rep. Napoleon Bracy has been selected to the Stacey Abrams Fellowship. The highly competitive fellowship recently added five states to its fellowship program. This year, the program will include South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Founded by Georgia politician Stacey Abrams, Fair Fight is a voting rights group that has been devoted to expanding knowledge and awareness of issues like voting rights, legislative functionality, and grassroots advocacy. Until now, the group has focused on developing a cohort of elected officials in the state of Georgia. Starting this year, Fair Fight will work with partner organizations on the ground in five additional states to select state legislators to become Senior Fellows. The program will last two months and culminate in a joint graduation ceremony with the Georgia Senior Fellows and keynote speaker Stacey Abrams in December 2021. In a February op-ed in the NYT written by Abrams and Lauren Groh-Wargo titled “How to Turn Your Red State Blue, Abrams wrote, “The steps toward victory are straightforward: understand your weaknesses, organize with your allies, shore up your political infrastructure and focus on the long game.” She concluded the piece, saying, “Our approach was rooted in the demographic numbers and in the moral clarity provided by an authentic, multiracial, multiethnic, multigenerational and truly statewide coalition.” “People often write off the South as a place where elections and fights for progressive values are unwinnable—but we’re proving that the South is ground zero for the next wave of progressivism in this country. Through the Fair Fight National Fellowship Program, we will continue to support and develop the next generation of strong progressive leaders across the South,” said Fair Fight Political Director André D. Fields. One of Alabama Today’s most influential people of 2021, Bracy was elected to the Alabama State House of Representatives in 2010. Representing Mobile, Alabama, he was elected as Chairman of the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus in 2013. Bracy is the Manager of Diversity, Inclusion, and Affirmative Action for Austal USA, a defense contractor for the US Department of Defense. Bracy posted on Facebook, “I am proud to be selected as a Fair Fight Action Fellow with Stacey Abrams along with other southern legislators fighting for better access to the ballot box! Let’s turn Alabama Blue! We are learning from the best!”
