As part of a segment on the debt collection industry, John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight, bought up $15 million worth of people's medical debt — and forgave it all.
“It is pretty clear by now debt buying is a grimy business and badly needs more oversight,” Oliver said. “Because as it stands, any idiot can get into it, and I can prove that to you, because I’m an idiot, and we started a debt-buying company, and it was disturbingly easy.”
Oliver related how he paid a $50 fee to start the company, set up a website, and then purchased nearly $15 million of out-of-statute medical debt from people in Texas for half a cent on the dollar. This gave him, like any other debt collector, access to names, addresses, and social security numbers of thousands of people. But instead of harassing the 9,000 people on his lists, Oliver arranged for the debt to be forgiven with no tax penalties for the indebted. But he didn’t want this act of generosity to cloud the bigger picture.
“The larger issue is, we need much clearer rules and tougher oversight to protect consumers from potentially predatory companies like the one that we set up,” Oliver said.
In a poke at Oprah Winfrey’s “Everybody gets a car!” segment, the Last Week Tonight host pointed out that in cash value, the debt forgiveness was the most valuable on-air cash giveaway in television history (Oprah’s was worth about $8 million).
“You are about to watch me give away $15 million dollars!” Oliver shouted as he hit a big red button, triggering cash to fall from the rafters.
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