Santa Monica, CA, Thursday, June 25 — Undue Medical Debt today announced that a transformative gift from Evan Spiegel and Miranda Kerr has erased over $550 million in medical debt for over 261,000 Californians, providing relief to families across the state as healthcare costs and broader affordability challenges continue to weigh on households.
Brooklyn, a former recipient of medical debt relief in Woodland, CA, shares, “In 2018, I was in a traumatic car accident during a medical crisis. The ambulance bill alone was over $4,600—a number that haunted me for years while I was trying to rebuild my life, go back to school, and raise my daughter as a single mom. I never thought I’d get relief. When I opened the letter from Undue Medical Debt, I cried. Not just because the money was erased, but because someone out there believed I deserved a second chance. This isn’t just about debt—it’s about hope. Thank you for lifting this off my shoulders.”
“The scale of this gift to Californians is truly astonishing, unburdening over a quarter million families of over half a billion dollars of un-payable medical debt,” shares Undue Medical Debt president and CEO Allison Sesso. “In the U.S. 1 in 4 adults are in medical debt; it’s a growing crisis undermining healthcare access, economic wellbeing and mental health and we’re so grateful that Evan Spiegel and Miranda Kerr share our belief that no one should go bankrupt because of a cancer diagnosis and no family should have to choose between insulin and groceries.”
Allison continues, “As a nonprofit leveraging cutting edge, proprietary technology to buy and erase medical debt at scale, our model addresses one of the main barriers to accessing care, which impacts families from small rural towns to Silicon Valley. We so appreciate this incredible support to remove these debts of necessity for good.”
“When someone is sick or recovering, the focus should be on healing and caring for the people you love, not on bills that can follow a family for years,” said Evan Spiegel and Miranda Kerr. “At a time when so many Californians are already struggling with rising costs, medical debt can make it even harder for families to regain their footing. We’re grateful to support Undue Medical Debt’s work to help lift that burden, and we hope this relief gives families more peace of mind and more room to prioritize their health, their loved ones, and their future.”
See a video message from Evan and Miranda.
Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy, leads domestic concerns in 2026 (above the economy) and people with medical debt are three times more likely to struggle with issues like depression and anxiety.
Undue Medical Debt is a national nonprofit that has erased over $40 billion of burdensome medical debt in all 50 states to date. It acquires qualifying medical debt in bulk from providers like hospitals and physicians’ groups and also from collection agencies for pennies on the dollar and then it erases those debts out of the blue, sending Undue Medical Debt branded envelopes notifying recipients.
Top 10 California Counties Benefiting from Debt Relief through Evan and Miranda’s Gift:
| County | Total Debt Relief | People Impacted |
| San Diego County | $99,026,313 | 40,369 |
| Riverside County | $69,485,215 | 35,486 |
| San Bernardino County | $56,508,865 | 32,034 |
| San Joaquin County | $45,353,564 | 16,158 |
| Los Angeles County | $26,785,085 | 17,466 |
| Stanislaus County | $26,518,702 | 11,044 |
| Monterey County | $19,346,967 | 5,697 |
| San Francisco County | $18,515,159 | 6,451 |
| Sonoma County | $17,065,427 | 7,104 |
| Alameda County | $16,521,897 | 6,548 |
California families benefiting from debt relief can expect envelopes to start arriving mid-July.
Debt relief cannot be requested and is source-based, meaning the nonprofit can only cancel debts it acquires from partners. Those who qualify are either: four times (400%) or below the federal poverty level (around $100k for a family of four) or have medical debt that is 5% or more of their annual income. Learn more: https://unduemedicaldebt.org/faq/
To support additional debt relief: https://unduemedicaldebt.org/donate/
About Undue Medical Debt:
Undue Medical Debt was founded in 2014 and has since erased over $40 billion of medical debt for over 27 million families across the U.S. The nonprofit has partnered with nearly 30 government partners across the country including LA County. Undue is also an official partner of the 2027 Los Angeles Marathon. Undue rose to national prominence on an episode of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver in which Undue facilitated the abolishment of $15M in medical debt. Learn more about Undue at www.unduemedicaldebt.org/