John Oliver is A Genuine Texas Hero
John Oliver, my favorite investigative comic, bought something valuable.
Some 9,000 people stuck with delinquent medical bills had their debts forgiven courtesy of HBO host John Oliver.
Oliver, on his “Last Week Tonight” program Sunday, took the action to illustrate a story about the practices of companies that purchase the records of debtors and attempt to collect on them. The show set up its own company to acquire $15 million worth of debt owed to hospitals in Texas, paying $60,000.
This is Texas, where our Governor is refusing Medicaid funds to help sick people who are working class but without health insurance. Medicaid ain’t welfare. Our Governor doesn’t want the federal money because Barack Obama touched it, so now it has cooties all over it.
John Oliver, who is in this country on a green card and could be Mexican as far as Greg Abbott knows, helped Texans when Abbott and the Republican Legislature wouldn’t.
Now how a business can pay $60,000 for $15 million in potential profit is a whole ‘nother story.
Thank you, John Oliver. Please come to Texas and run for Governor.
Thanks to everybody for the heads up.
Miz JJ,
Thanks for posting this great story. And to prove that no good turn goes unpunished, the organization Debt Collective is taking credit for the “idea”!
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/06/john-oliver-debt-forgiveness-stunt
Hey Debt Collective: so f’ing what!
1John Oliver is a complete and total gem!
2Wow. That’s all. Just wow.
Where is John Oliver based from? NY? LA? Doesn’t matter really. Wherever his show is taped, it’s that “No-Good, Immoral, Liberal Hollywood Establishment” the snacilbupeR love to rant against, innit?
In your face, snacilbupeR.
3I read about this on National Memo too. I am completely, fully, madly, head over heels, gobsmacked In Love With John Oliver!!!!!!!!
4And Trump would probably build a wall to keep him out. Love John Oliver!
5If there was such a thing as a Texas Humanitarian Award (probably an oxymoron), he should receive such.
However, this is Texas. He should expect the recognition to consist of a letter of reprimand as a foreign citizen for interfering in the internal affairs of the great state of Texas.
6It’s a Texas sized piece of generosity, and that makes him a qualified Texan.
Although why he’d want that is beyond my ken.
7Hmm . . I seem to remember someone teaching his followers to pray, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
That whole thing about forgiving others seems to have been pretty central to his message.
Now if only I could remember just who that was.
8This is a great idea to which more philanthropic organizations should flock. Hey, millionaires, let’s save people who are underwater with debt, for pennies on the dollar.
9If Democrats are able to get this done, we could turn Texas and many other states blue almost instantly.
If you like John Oliver, it’s also worth checking out Samantha Bee in her Full Frontal show. She has the same high energy and liberal humor and is a trailblazer for feminists. She’s also very funny. You might want to google her take on Cruz a few weeks ago.
10You might also want to check out Sam Bee on the Seattle Seawards..
11https://youtu.be/la4wWpKDqrM
Thank you, Jon Stewart for finding all this talent and fluffing their feathers so they can fly. We are grateful!
12Texas – where comedians provide better healthcare for it’s citizens than their governors.
13Texas– where the governors must be comedians because nobody could possibly say and do those things seriously… right?
14Donald Drumpf#$k says that every time he files bankruptcy to protect his ass-ets,Slipstream.
15It’s called “Zombie or Phantom Debt”.
The bottom-feeders that acquire and seek to profit from it are the lowest of the low (there are certain ‘types’ who seem to be drawn to this, along with ‘payday loan’ type operations, they are sometimes church related ops too).
The debtor has no obligation to satisfy these vultures. See the credit regulation laws, especially if you know anyone getting hounded.
In any case, the original creditor has completely written off these debts, and factored them (and future ones) into “the cost of doing biz”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_debt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Debt_Collection_Practices_Act
16Sandridge, seriously? I did not know that. So if someone other than the original creditor tries to collect, I can ignore him? No pain to my credit rating? No worries of legal action? Holy moly.
17These leeches often try to get default judgements against folks who ignore them…even if the debt was discharged in bankruptcy, or barred by a statute of limitations.
18If you’d like to see John Oliver’s whole segment, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Debt Buyers (HBO)”, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxUAntt1z2c I found it quite educational.
19Debbo, only if that debt is ‘dead’, zombie (as RepubAnon hinted), expired, discharged, not really owed (as it was contracted by another), etc. The Wiki link touches on it.
Does not apply to active (non-zombie) debt transferred from one entity to another, legitimate collections, etc.
Someone close had a run-in with one of these zombie-debt vultures, suddenly getting dunned for something ten years past, long dead. My investigation turned up the brand new corporate records of the vulture, reuse of it’s address, web tracks, etc. Told her to stiff/stonewall them, that she owed them nothing.
You have to read up on it, it’s complex.
The laws are meant to be ‘fair’, until the R’s jack with them. (Just went around with a property tax appraisal pre-protest, a grossly unfair (100%+more/acre than county avg) assessment on a group of property owners.)
As far as “the original creditor”, look into the recent mortgage blowup, enabled by the ease of bundling and selling those tranches, et al., (have a look at one of our ‘favorite’ ‘TX’ pols, Phil Gramm (R-UBS)).
20Slipstream: the forgiving our debtors is in the part of the Bible blacked out by the evangitaliban.
21EPO: Trumph only says the first part of the phrase. His attention span only allows a few words at a time. Over an over.
22We watched this episode and almost teared up. Maybe if they allowed a tax credit for every chunk of debt forgiven it could happen more often. Most of the tax exempt “charities” out there spend all their money on getting more money. This was a direct to the source goo deed. It also shows how much profit these sleazy companies make. They sold $15 million for $60 thousand and still came out ahead.
23I love John Oliver too, he is of English origin, the son of a schoolteacher, he is married to a former military medic, they had a child this past year.
24He is a good human being!
Hugs to John Oliver. Long may he reign!
25Right Joan – wanted to add that I believe he is now a citizen or at least in process. I wish he was on a non-premium cable channel but fortunately can access via internet the next day. It is a sad state of affairs when comedians know more than the so-called MSM and actually DO something about it.
26Good clarification Sandridge!
Along with the rest of the gang, I adore young John Oliver” (as Stewart used to refer to him. I would add one thing Marlene, the MSM’s job is to report the facts not to DO something. That is one of the reasons that Oliver and Stewart have steadfastly pointed out that they are entertainers not journalists. It is an important distinction, while Fox claims that it is “fair and balanced” make a mockery of the terms that’s ultimately the journalists job. It’s our job as citizens to stay informed and then to DO SOMETHING, whether it is voting, lobbying or taking direct action based on knowledge and the courage of our convictions. Forgive me for singing to the choir.
27He’s still a permanent resident. I don’t think he’s been in the country long enough for citizenship.
28Thanks for that information Sandridge. You’re a smart guy.
29Great way to start the day!
30Great the Mr Oliver spent $60k to relieve the misery of all that medical debt. These scumbag debt collectors buy up written off debt for almost nothing. I’ve heard two cents on the dollar. Then they begin to pester with letter, phone calls and more. Any one remember an electronics retailer called Video Concepts? Last year a debt collector contacted me over an old, old account with that company. I contacted an attorney who had a good laugh. McDuffs and Video Concepts were phased out by Tandy in 1994. The attorney barely remembered the company.
31Jon Oliver for governor! Awesome idea. We need a sharp witted person to skewer these Teabagging clowns we have running the state now. As much as I liked Wendy Davis, she was far too mellow, laid back and controlled. We need a smart candidate that can tear these clowns a new Paxton.
32Slipstream: Ask that retired pastor with whom you’re on good terms.
33Ironic that one of our national treasures is a Brit.
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