Lebanon Episcopal church celebrates raising funds to cancel medical debt

On Sunday, March 10, a symbolic bill for $3 million will be torn in half at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, representing $3 million of medical debt forgiven through the works of local Episcopal churches across Pennsylvania.

In over a year of work, the Help, Healing and Hope medical debt initiative has raised over $30,000 through over 120 congregations, private individuals and interfaith communities, representing a combined effort of 38 Pennsylvania counties.

The nonprofit organization RIP Medical Debt has been able to purchase medical debt for pennies on the dollar and then forgive that debt. With every dollar raised forgiving approximately $100 in medical debt, the money that the Episcopal churches have raised represents $3 million to $3.5 million in medical debt forgiven for Pennsylvania residents.

The Sunday event will be held at St. Luke's, at 22 S. 6th St., in conjunction with Hope Church of Manheim and begins at 4 p.m. with Bishop Audrey Scanlan, of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania and Bishop Kevin Nichols, of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem jointly welcoming parishioners and guests throughout the two dioceses to a special musical service called "Evensong," a traditional Anglican service that St. Luke's puts on once a month.

Rev. Dr. David Zwifka, the rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and Rev. Bradley Mattson, rector of Hope Episcopal Church, will be presiding, and the St. Luke’s Festival Choir will be featured.

"Within weeks of this service, if they haven't already, instead of getting bills in the mail, they're going to get a paid in full letter from the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt that says you don't owe any more money, because the Episcopal Church has paid it in full," said Matton. "That's what it's going to say. That's how powerful these letters are. And that's what we're celebrating."

Rev. Anjel Scarborough, rector All Saints Episcopal Church in Hershey, and other clergy from local Episcopal churches have also been invited to participate.

Zwifka said that St. Luke's and Hope Church have been working to establish a collaborative relationship for some time. There's also a historic connection between the two congregations, as St. Luke's was originally a mission of Hope Church.

After learning of Hope Church's medical debt project, it was an easy decision to get on board.

A personal experience

Mattson began the medical debt forgiveness initiative, partnering with RIP Medical Debt, over a year ago after his family's own experience with medical bills in the summer of 2022.

Both he and his wife, Rev. Jennifer Mattson, are both ordained Episcopal clergy, with Jennifer serving as rector of the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Lancaster. More than two years ago, their daughter, Elizabeth, suddenly developed symptoms of sluggishness, tiredness and thirst, in addition to a sore throat. She was ultimately diagnosed with Type I diabetes.

"The pediatrician tested her blood sugar and then he came back white as a ghost, and basically said, 'Look, an ambulance isn't going to get her to the emergency room fast enough, you need to go,' and we're like, now?" Bradley said. "He's like, 'No, right now, I will call ahead,' and with orders to keep her awake."

They rushed her to Lancaster General Health, recalling that they couldn't tell them if their daughter was going to make it, because they didn't know, but ultimately stabilized her from diabetic shock.

Jennifer and Bradley began split duty, with one staying with Elizabeth and the other going out into the parking garage on the phone, calling their health insurance company trying to figure out which hospitals were in their network because Elizabeth needed to be transferred to either Children's Hospital of Philadelphia or Penn State Hershey. Not being able to get a hold of their insurance, they rolled the dice and decided on CHOP, where they spent an entire week.

"We came out of that and we came home and we figured out that certain things weren't covered. Like the ambulance bill was $6,000. It came within a month of her hospitalization and it was due in 30 days," Bradley said. "Insurance didn't cover it because it wasn't a network, it was an ambulance company."

"We don't begrudge them for lifesaving care that they offered her, but we can see why this could snowball."

The story and shock of the cost of medical treatment, even for the insured, resonated with both Hope Church's and St. Thomas' congregations, it got them thinking about how deeply medical debt can impact others.

"It wasn't so far away, it was up close and people were deeply engaged both in prayer and in support of our family at that time," Jennifer said. "But we had that support, we were able to address the bill, to be able to stay in our house, to take care of all the other issues. ... But for many families, they may not have all those resources available."

This prompted the then chair of the outreach committee for Hope Church, Rob Gokey, to research what medical debt is and ultimately reach out to RIP Medical Debt.

Originally, it began as a campaign for $2,500, before St. Luke's made a contribution of $1,000, then becoming a goal of $5,000, eventually ballooning to a three-phase campaign with $10,000 goals for each phase as Hope Church's YouTube videos began to circulate with help of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. After the first phase was closed, both Dioceses offered matches for the donated funds.

The reason they did it in phases, Bradley explained, is that by donating through a campaign of $10,000, they are able to reserve the area of geographic impact of the money that was raised. The money raised through the Help, Healing and Hope medical debt initiative will all go towards Pennsylvania Medical Debt.

While not all all of the money has been handed over to RIP Medical Debt, Bradley said that first phase erased the debt of 416 individuals in Lancaster and Lebanon counties in the amount of $447,000.

Phase three is still open until Easter day.

The churches will retire the debt as a part of the service and celebrate the impact of the Help, Healing and Hope medical debt initiative.

The service is open to the public, and all are invited to attend. A freewill offering will be taken to benefit the Help, Healing and Hope initiative.

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on X @djlarlham.

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Lebanon PA Episcopal church celebrates efforts to cancel medical debt