Nikiesha Barnett had knee surgery in 2006 and took unpaid leave from her job as a Georgia hospital coordinator while she was recovering. When Barnett wasn’t able to keep up with the payments for the surgery, she ended up owing about $4,500.
That debt lingered for almost 14 years until one day in 2020, she received a letter from a nonprofit telling her the debt had been relieved. RIP Medical Debt, a national nonprofit, had bought her debt and forgiven it.
