More than $1.8 million in medical debt has been erased for 1,679 Santa Barbara County residents. It's part of an initiative by the Pastors’ Network of Santa Maria Valley, in partnership with 12 local churches and the organization Undue Medical Debt.
"All of these over 1,600 people whose debt was eliminated are from within our county. They're our neighbors," said Pastor Tim Mossholder from the Pastors' Network. He explained there’s a criterion to qualify for the debt relief.
"One of those qualifiers is that you have to earn at least less than four times the federal poverty level," he said. "Even if you have insurance, just the deductibles and everything can really wipe out a family's finances or an individual's finances."
