When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
John Oliver Forgave $15 Million of Medical Debt on TV
As part of a segment on how seedy the debt buying industry is, John Oliver set up a debt buying company for about $50 online. He used the new company, called C.A.R.P., to buy $15 million of medical debt for the price of about $60,000.
Forgiving this debt is the largest one-time giveaway on television. Even outranking Oprah.
Hospital bills are bullshit. Pisses me off when I get a bill and it says something like. Bill $10,000, agreed rate with your insurance $1000, you still owe $200. So if I didn't have insurance they would expect me to pay $10,000.
No. If you didn't have insurance, you would be charged a much lesser rate. However, if you have insurance and they don't pay, you're stuck with the insurance rate.
Even if the giveaway wasn't as large (monetarily) as Oprah's, I'd say it still outranks her giveaway(s). I'm sure with John Oliver's giveaway the recipients won't be left with a tax bill...
Even if the giveaway wasn't as large (monetarily) as Oprah's, I'd say it still outranks her giveaway(s). I'm sure with John Oliver's giveaway the recipients won't be left with a tax bill...
Yeah I remember something about those Oprah car winners in that some of them couldn't afford to win the cars because of taxes on a new car (not to mention since this is a high value gift....not sure if recipients have to file their taxes with increased income equivalent to car's value in this case...but then again gift taxes are usually paid by the giver...ie Oprah...)
But yeah Oliver and his team are definitely smart enough to work with specific organizations so the debt relief doesn't incur taxes on those people as he mentioned in the show.
edit:
On another note, I showed this to a friend and he posed a very interesting question: if you can buy medical debt for pennies on the dollar and it's disturbingly easy to do so...is it possible for an individual saddled with mountains of outstanding debt to somehow setup a company, and find and somehow buy his own debt and forgive himself?
edit:
On another note, I showed this to a friend and he posed a very interesting question: if you can buy medical debt for pennies on the dollar and it's disturbingly easy to do so...is it possible for an individual saddled with mountains of outstanding debt to somehow setup a company, and find and somehow buy his own debt and forgive himself?
Yeah I remember something about those Oprah car winners in that some of them couldn't afford to win the cars because of taxes on a new car (not to mention since this is a high value gift....not sure if recipients have to file their taxes with increased income equivalent to car's value in this case...but then again gift taxes are usually paid by the giver...ie Oprah...)
But yeah Oliver and his team are definitely smart enough to work with specific organizations so the debt relief doesn't incur taxes on those people as he mentioned in the show.
edit:
On another note, I showed this to a friend and he posed a very interesting question: if you can buy medical debt for pennies on the dollar and it's disturbingly easy to do so...is it possible for an individual saddled with mountains of outstanding debt to somehow setup a company, and find and somehow buy his own debt and forgive himself?
From my understanding, in CA you have to pay the taxes on the market value of the prize at the time of receipt. Many game show winners do not leave with their prizes.
Now, "prizes" is the key word. I would have to believe that they can be gifted, but that may only be tax free up to a certain amount. It would be interesting to know if Oprah really did "gift" her audience.
06-08-2016, 09:19 AM
