Before dying from stage four ovarian cancer at age 38, New York mother Casey McIntyre arranged a final message that turned her personal loss into financial relief for tens of thousands of strangers across the United States. By December 2024, the viral memorial campaign created in her honor had raised millions of dollars. The money allowed non-profit organization Undue Medical Debt to erase more than $120 million (£90 million) in unpaid healthcare bills. McIntyre, a publishing executive who lived in Brooklyn with her husband, Andrew Gregory, and their young daughter, died in November 2023. Before her death, she worked with her husband to create a debt jubilee fundraiser through Undue Medical Debt, which was formerly called RIP Medical Debt. “To celebrate my life, I’ve decided to buy up medical debt and then destroy it,” read the message posted to her social media accounts after her death, as released by Undue Medical Debt.
Rapid public response generates millions
The campaign quickly connected with donors around the world. Within weeks of McIntyre’s death, donations poured into the special fundraising page. The campaign passed its first goals within hours. According to press releases from Undue Medical Debt, the campaign raised more than $1 million in direct donations during its opening phase. Because the charity buys groups of medical debts on secondary markets for pennies on the dollar, every donated dollar can erase about $100 in debt based on its original value. In December 2023, Undue Medical Debt announced its first major debt relief funded by McIntyre’s campaign. The organization bought and erased $44.9 million in healthcare debt, helping more than 51,000 people across the country. Recipients received yellow envelopes in the mail telling them that their unpaid medical balances had been completely cleared. They were not given tax penalties or any other obligations.
A second wave of debt cancellation
As donations continued to grow throughout 2024, the campaign reached another major milestone during the holiday season. In December 2024, Undue Medical Debt released a statement confirming that a second round of debt relief funded by McIntyre’s campaign had erased more than $75 million in medical debt. Combined with the first round, the total amount of canceled healthcare debt passed $120 million, helping tens of thousands of low-income families. Andrew Gregory said his late wife understood that she had more access to healthcare treatment than many other people. That awareness helped motivate her to assist people facing financial hardship because of illness. “Casey was profoundly grateful for the excellent care she received, but she was also furious about how unjust the American healthcare system is,” Gregory stated in press releases issued by Undue Medical Debt. “She wanted to make sure that others who were suffering wouldn’t have to carry the added burden of crippling debt.”
Mechanism behind debt abolition
Undue Medical Debt works by buying groups of unpaid medical accounts from hospitals, health systems, and collection agencies. The non-profit focuses on debt held by people who earn four times or less than the federal poverty level, or whose medical debt equals 5 percent or more of their yearly gross income. After the organization buys the debt, it permanently cancels it instead of trying to collect the money. Allison Sesso, Chief Executive Officer of Undue Medical Debt, highlighted the effect McIntyre’s campaign had on the organization’s outreach work. “Casey’s gift was a remarkable act of generosity that turned her family’s grief into a powerful force for good,” Sesso said in a statement published by the non-profit. “Her story touched a nerve because so many Americans know firsthand the crushing weight of medical debt.”
Continuing support for families in need
The campaign became one of the most successful fundraising efforts by a single person in the history of Undue Medical Debt. Beyond directly canceling debt, the attention around McIntyre’s campaign encouraged other grassroots groups, faith organizations, and local governments to work with the non-profit. These groups sought to erase medical debt in their own communities. For Gregory and their daughter, Grace, the campaign created a meaningful way to honor McIntyre’s memory. The fundraising page remains active, allowing people to keep donating to debt relief efforts in her name. The postal notices sent to recipients simply said that their debts had been cleared in memory of Casey McIntyre, a mother who wanted to make healthcare access less difficult for others.
