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John Oliver just forgave $15 million in medical debt. On the air.

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UPDATED: On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver turned his trademark wit and incisive social commentary to America’s medical and banking systems.

First, Oliver reveals the insanity that is America’s debt-for-sale business. There’s a conference voice-over — “we’re helping the economy” — that sounds like the a line you would hear from payday loan companies. How is this different from usury? It’s not.

For the princely sum of $50, Oliver and his crack LWT staff registered a new debt-acquisition firm, Central Asset Recovery Professionals (CARP, like the bottom-feeding fish) in Mississippi. “It was disturbingly easy,” he said.

With little more to go on than that website, we were soon offered a portfolio of nearly $15 million of out-of-statute medical debt from Texas.

And how much was that $15 million in debt going for? Less than $60,000 — about $.004 for every dollar of debt owed (actually previously owed, because the statute of limitations had expired) for nearly 9,000 people. In addition to the fact that the debt had expired, CARP would have personal data for those customers.

But Oliver did not want to recoup that $15 million. CARP gave it to RIP Medical Debt, an organization that specializes in forgiving medical debt.

Thanks to this June 5 airing of the HBO comedy series, Last Week Tonight Show with John Oliver, there are a lot more of us now privy to this collection industry practice and the debt treadmill it creates. In a painfully hilarious (debt as funny? Somehow, yes) piece, John Oliver triumphantly Out-Oprah’s Oprah in giving away valuable gifts.

 
 
I love this man. Can we run him for president?

 
 
UPDATE: A friend reminded me that Occupy starting a “strike debt” project called Rolling Jublieee. They have eliminated $31,982,455.76 of debt in a much less flamboyant manner. Read on about Strike Debt.
 
 

 
 
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