On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver gave his viewers the appearance that he made the lives of 9,000 students much easier.
He made their lives easier, but not in the way he claimed.
Oliver supposedly forgave approximately $15 million of medical debt for 9,000 students from Texas during his Sunday show. Oliver wanted to highlight the necessity of more government regulation of the debt-buying business.
“Debt-buying is a grimy business and badly needs more oversight, because as it stands any idiot can get into it. And I can prove that to you because I am an idiot and we started a debt-buying company. And it was disturbingly easy,” Oliver said.
Last Week Tonight created a debt-acquisition company in Mississippi for $50 called Central Asset Recovery Professionals Inc. Shortly after creating CARP, the company was offered $14,922,261.76 of medical debt for “less than half a cent on a dollar,” which cost them a little less than $60,000. After the transaction was complete, CARP received personal information for 9,000 students who owed the $15 million. Oliver and Last Week Tonight then partnered with RIP Medical Debt to forgive the debt.
However, according to Slate’s Jordan Weissmann, CARP’s $60,000 purchase of the debt showed that the seller thought the debt was not worth more than this. That is because debts become less valuable each time someone tries to collect them. The debt might’ve been worth $15 million at one time, but the seller shows that he doesn’t believe it’s anywhere near that anymore.
All John Oliver did was save 9,000 people from potential lawsuits for not paying the debt. He did not one-up Oprah.
To see Oliver forgive the debt and talk details, fast forward to 17:10 in the video below:
