Alera Group, Inc. employees announced their alleviation of $1.35 million of medical debt for families located across the state of New Jersey through two of its New Jersey based divisions, CRISP and Broad Reach Benefits. This gift is part of approximately $19 million in healthcare debt being relieved by Alera Group employees for struggling households across the country, an effort that began during the 2020 holiday season and remains open for contributions today. Alera is one of the youngest and fastest growing privately held, national insurance brokerage firms in the country.

Alera employees worked directly with the debt-forgiveness nonprofit, RIP Medical Debt, to identify individuals and families with outstanding healthcare-related bills in more than 200 cities located in 35 counties across the country. Founded by two former debt collectors, RIP is able to purchase medical debts for those most in need in bundled portfolios for a fraction of their face value.

“The global pandemic has impacted the lives of millions of people across the country, with so many families struggling to pay off soaring medical bills associated with getting sick in this environment,” stated David Russo, a partner at CRISP. “Giving back to the local communities in which we live is at the heart of what Alera Group stands for, and we are proud to be part of such an incredible initiative that is easing the worries of families across New Jersey during these challenging times.” 

Rather than waking up to the knocking of a debt collector, thousands of Americans will receive letters of forgiveness to alert them of the gift from Alera employees. These letters will be delivered by March 2021 and beyond, targeting individual and families living below 200% of the poverty level.

“It has been a great experience collaborating with our partners at CRISP in order to help alleviate the medical debt of so many people that are in need within our local communities, which is a core tenet of our firm’s culture and mission,” added Philip Cohen, a senior partner at Broad Reach Benefits. “As 2021 continues to unfold, we look forward to identifying new ways to support the changing needs of our New Jersey neighbors.”

Reference: https://njbmagazine.com/njb-news-now/alera-group-employees-relieve-1-35m-of-medical-debt-across-nj/