One in five American households bears some medical debt, which is a factor in a majority of U.S. bankruptcies. Since 2014, the charity RIP Medical Debt has abolished more than $9.5 billion worth of medical bills for more than six million Americans, by buying up delinquent medical debt at pennies on the dollar (just as debt collectors do) and abolishing it. Correspondent Martha Teichner talks with the co-founder and president of RIP Medical Debt, and with a Georgia preschool teacher whose $1,500 medical debt, that had dogged her for years, was suddenly erased. (An earlier version of this story was broadcast April 16, 2023.)