For 1,148 residents of the Cleveland area who were crippled with medical debt, the debt was erased thanks to the initiative of 20-year-old Ohioan Ethan Khorana.
Khorana currently attends Duke University and is majoring in public policy.
"My organization (The Better Future for Cuyahoga) and me, the mission statement we both have is that we're trying to eliminate what we call the three evils of Cuyahoga County, which is poverty, violence, and discrimination," Khorana said. "I really see community organizing as the way to get rid of them."
One evil Khorana is currently tackling is his neighbors' poverty by working with a nonprofit called Undue Medical Debt as well as a handful of people and families he networked with over a span of two months to erase $1.26M in medical debt.
The canceled debt is across a variety of local hospitals, according to Khorana.
The craziest part of this story is he was able to wipe out that debt with $10,000.
"Undue Medical Debt, which they, you know, negotiated and got a portfolio of debt for people living in poverty, or up to four times the federal poverty line or whose debt accounts for around 5% of their annual household income, and so really what that means is that it's people who are living in poverty or on the brink of poverty. We got this debt portfolio that equated to $10,000 for $1.2 million in medical debt," he told me on Friday.
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He said it feels great to know and see the impact he and his partners have made.
This isn't the end for him, though.
According to the Urban Institute, about 10% of Cuyahoga County’s 1.2 million residents had some sort of medical debt in 2022. The average debt stood at $440, but that was just from debt collection agencies.
In 2023, it sat around 3.1%, with a median of $1,049 owed. Not all of the data is appearing online, though.
Seeing the research, Khorana said he knew he needed to step in and find a solution, which is when Undue entered the picture.
Khorana said hospital systems often sell debt in bulk, which is where Undue stepped in.
The nonprofit's website says for every $1 raised, $100 in medical debt is canceled.
At Undue Medical Debt, we believe no one should have to choose between their health and paying their bills. That's why we're proud to partner with people like Ethan Khorana to lift the burden of medical debt for their communities. We're truly grateful for Ethan's passion, as well as for all the amazing donors who supported this campaign — we wouldn't be here without them
Undue went on to say via email on Friday, "Every campaign like Ethan's brings us closer to a world where getting care doesn't mean risking your financial future. It's a powerful example of what's possible when a community decides to take on medical debt together."
The debt has been canceled as of two weeks ago.
Khorana said those impacted are just now being made aware through mail.
Since posting to social media of the tremendous news, Khorana said the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
"The feedback has been, well, a lot of folks are saying, 'Are you gonna run for office?'," he said, laughing, "Guys, I gotta get my degree first. I gotta make mom happy with that. I think that when we canceled the debt, you know, that was what I was really happy to hear, which is folks who were saying, you know, they might have received a letter in the mail that they had their debt canceled and that now they can move forward from a bill that they thought would follow them for the rest of their lives."
Those who are impacted by this debt cancellation didn't need to apply or sign up for anything either.
"It's not reduced, it's not paused, it's canceled, it's done, you know, it's a bill they don't ever have to worry about again," Khorana said. "Maybe medical debt canceling this year was not something that I 100% knew I would be doing, but fighting poverty in Cleveland is definitely something that I thought I'd be doing, and it's the same thing I'm gonna be doing at 40 that I'm doing at 20."
Khorana said although he's attending school out-of-state, soon-to-be attending a university in Tokyo for a semester, he plans to return to Cleveland once he has graduated.
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Until then, and even after, he said he will tackle more debt.
He already has a few ideas he's kicking around.
Khorana is hoping his story of kindness will send a message to others in his generation that the time to make a difference is now.
"I think there's a lot of things that are said about our generation, you know, that we're the TikTok generation, we don't have an attention span, and I think a lot of folks in our generation start to believe that that's true at a certain extent. We are a resilient generation, and we're a generation that fought through the pandemic, fought through, you know, a lot of different tragedies in a short period of time, and I think for that reason, we can be the generation that will make poverty a problem of the past and make violence a problem of the past and create sustainable living communities that give Americans the best quality of life and Clevelanders the best quality of life," Khorana said.
Once he plans his next campaign, We'll Follow Through.
If you'd like to follow Khorana's journey on making his community a better place, you can find him on TikTok and Instagram under @ethanfromshaker.
This article was written by Kaylee Olivas for the Scripps News Group station in Cleveland.
