Faith In Action: How a Local Church Paid Off $8 Million in Medical Debt

The government is not the solution. Communities are.

Photo by John Price on Unsplash

We can file this story under “Let’s have more of this, please.”

In a heartwarming act of generosity, The Altar Fellowship Church in Johnson City, Tennessee, has reportedly eliminated about $8 million in medical debt for residents.

The initiative, which helped almost 4,000 families across the Tri-Cities area, was part of a collaboration with a national debt forgiveness program. The program alleviated medical debt for thousands of people and demonstrated the power of community-driven solutions rather than relying on the government.

Senior Pastor Mattie Montgomery’s personal experience with medical problems inspired this effort. “The story meant so much to our senior pastor, Pastor Matty, because [he lost] his father to cancer at the young age of eight,” Missions Pastor David Morrison told NewsNation.

The church’s involvement in this program began with a significant fundraising effort, raising $50,000 in a single day. The funds, combined with the resources of a national debt forgiveness organization, were used to purchase and forgive the medical debt of thousands of local families.

As Morrison noted, “We heard about this program through our senior pastor, Pastor Mattie Montgomery. A business friend of his who loves the Lord just like we do called him and said that he had been dreaming about one day being able to forgive medical debt in his hometown of Florida.”

One of the beneficiaries, Carl Smith, shared the impact this had on his family. “My dad had some medical bills that we were just struggling to pay off,” he said. “And he came to my room and was like, hey, the Altar. Your church paid off my medical debt. And it was just such a blessing to find that out because it’s always good to have that off your shoulders.”

The Altar Fellowship’s approach reflects a broader discussion on how private and community-driven initiatives can effectively address some of the pressing issues in the healthcare system. By directly tackling the burden of medical debt, the church has provided immediate relief to families without the bureaucratic red tape that often accompanies government interventions.

Medical debt is one of many economic woes many Americans are experiencing today. Even though more than 90 percent of Americans have some form of health insurance – mostly through their employers – medical debt remains a serious problem.

About 41 percent of adults have medical debt, according to a recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). It also revealed some other alarming numbers:

This brief analyzes data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to understand how many people have medical debt and how much they owe. A recent Census Bureau analysis on medical debt at the household level found 15% of households owed medical debt in 2021. In this analysis, SIPP data is summarized at the individual level for adults who reported owing over $250 in unpaid medical bills as of December 2021. This analysis focuses on people with over $250 in medical debt, a threshold defined as “significant” medical debt to distinguish from people who owe relatively small amounts.

This analysis shows that 20 million people (nearly 1 in 12 adults) owe medical debt. The SIPP survey suggests people in the United States owe at least $220 billion in medical debt. Approximately 14 million people (6% of adults) in the U.S. owe over $1,000 in medical debt and about 3 million people (1% of adults) owe medical debt of more than $10,000. While medical debt occurs across demographic groups, people with disabilities or in worse health, lower-income people, and uninsured people are more likely to have medical debt.

This initiative highlights the effectiveness of alternative healthcare solutions, such as Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). HSAs allow individuals to save money tax-free for medical expenses, providing a buffer against unexpected healthcare costs.

By enabling people to save and spend their own money on healthcare instead of insurance companies and the government dictating how they get their healthcare, HSAs encourage personal responsibility and offer a practical solution for managing medical expenses without needing extensive government programs.

Beyond HSAs, other private-sector solutions could include community-based health cooperatives, where members pool resources to cover medical costs, and direct primary care models, where patients pay a monthly fee directly to doctors for a range of services, bypassing insurance altogether. These models emphasize affordability, accessibility, and personal agency in healthcare decisions, in contrast to the often impersonal and inefficient government-run systems.

Another way to reduce government involvement in healthcare and empower consumers is by advocating for price transparency. Requiring healthcare providers to disclose prices upfront would allow patients to shop around for the best rates, promoting competition and driving down costs.

This would empower individuals to make informed decisions about their healthcare, fostering a market-driven approach that could lead to more affordable and higher-quality care.

The Altar Fellowship Church’s initiative to pay off $8 million in medical debt is a powerful reminder of the impact that local communities can have when they come together to support one another. It also reminds us that there are plenty of ways to take care of people without involving the government.

Their actions not only provided much-needed relief but also offered a blueprint for how private solutions can address some of the most pressing issues in the healthcare system, demonstrating that compassion and innovation at the local level can often achieve what large-scale government programs cannot.