TV TONIGHT SHOW HOST - John Oliver, paid off nearly 15 million dollars in Medical Debt.

Last Week Tonight: John Oliver Stages Biggest Giveaway in TV History      
Michael Ausiello  19 hrs ago
http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/last-week-tonight-john-oliver-stages-biggest-giveaway-in-tv-history/ar-BBtU3Qs?li=BBnbfcL

Remember Oprah Winfrey‘s car giveaway stunt? John Oliver just rolled right over it. 
On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, the host concluded a lengthy exposé on the sketchy debt-buying industry by announcing the creation of his own such company. “Debt buying is a grimy business, and it badly needs more oversight,” he declared. “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 went on to reveal that back in April he “spent $50” to start a debt-acquisition company, called Central Asset Recover Professionals, short for, “C.A.R.P., after the bottom-feeding fish.”
Soon after, he was offered nearly $15 million in medical debt for less than $60K. But instead of setting out to collect the debt, he decided to forgive it, partly because “it was the right thing to do” and partly to claim bragging rights to “the largest onetime giveaway in television history.” The previous record holder, per Oliver? Winfrey, who back in 2004 gifted each member of her entire studio audience with a free car, to the tune of $8 million.
Oliver ended the show but playfully shouting, “-–k you, Oprah!”
Oliver foreshadowed the stunt on Twitter Sunday night, alerting fans that this week’s episode would run “five minutes longer,” adding, “and it’s worth watching to the end to see why… ”

HOLY - SHIT ...what an amazing man; I've heard him rant about our utterly sucky government - the buffoons up in WDC - the inability to the Republican Party to get anything done and he does this ~~~

that is brilliant usign the system agaisnt it.. and scary that 15 million in medical is actually only worth about 60K?

veya_victaous wrote:that is brilliant usign the system agaisnt it..  and scary that 15 million in medical is actually only worth about 60K?

I helped my brother build up a 'collection agency' {something I could do from my home while tending to my husbands needs} back when the internet was young and building a software based business was so 'THE FUTURE'. 
It was shocking how fast the Debt Owed could be talked down once the mediator became involved and the debt vs the debtor allowed someone to negotiate the discussion for them.  Of course this was all done for a fee but it was a 'win-win' for all parties concerned.

But yes, medical billing and medical charges are billed on such a wide range of pricing: Insurance billing & Medicare are at the top - then there's Medicaid based fees - then private payer.  And those prices fluctuate as widely as the clinics are for addresses here in the states.  

“spent $50” to start a debt-acquisition company, called Central Asset Recover Professionals, short for, “C.A.R.P., after the bottom-feeding fish.”

But John proved a valid point and his out of pocket start up was a drop in the bucket to what he was able to do under his business name!  Pretty dam amazing, huh?

Debt like that is really bad. $15-million for $60-thousand means it's debt with a lot of mold on it. Oliver's not really giving away that much. I would bet that all of it is past the statute of limitations date, so that it is uncollectible...unless some poor sucker didn't know the law and sent in his or her check.

Which shows you the shitty, lying edge of existence some of these factoring companies live on.

      ANOTHER THING to remember with people like both John Oliver and Oprah with these kind of 'giveaways'...

THEY don't have to put their hands in their own pockets when they do these stunts..


WHEN Oprah gave those cars away, the car manufacturer supplied them to the show --  GM must have reckoned they were getting their "$8 million" worth of advertising out of it..

LIKEWISE,  on Oliver's TV show it's the business of his TV show that pays for it (and, as a business, his TV show's income comes from it's advertisers..).
As everybody in any kind of business should always remember, your business income only becomes your income after all of your bills and expenses have been allowed for..

AND, the cost for these 'stunts' is part of the cost of producing the programme.      


AS FOR the obviously grossly inflated $15 million "debt"  --  that just goes to show how usurious both US health funds in general, and the "factoring" debt collection agencies that buy bad debts, really are !

THOSE "Debt collection" companies only pay 20% of the value of bundled debts from their client customer companies..  They then only have to recover maybe 50-->> 60% of those long overdues, to make a pretty good "profit" on their purchases...
They can then re-bundle older unpaid debts up again, and then auction them off to even less-scrupolous debt agencies (cue the standover merchants, early morning visits, and public embarrassments..).        

Original Quill wrote:Debt like that is really bad.  $15-million for $60-thousand means it's debt with a lot of mold on it. Oliver's not really giving away that much.  I would bet that all of it is past the statute of limitations date, so that it is uncollectible...unless some poor sucker didn't know the law and sent in his or her check.

Which shows you the shitty, lying edge of existence some of these factoring companies live on.

Some of what you say is plausible, Quill ...but as often is the truth that lenders want their books cleaned up ASAP and they hate having 'Bad Debt' linger on their aging report for years. Always a large portion of accumulated debt are attached late fees and interest that can just be written off by the lender.  
So they are very willing to recoup some of their losses and writing off large chunks of it just to clean up their books and financial portfolios - and for the middle man doing the negotiations and keeping the transactions out of a court system ...it's a win-win for everyone.

4EVER2 wrote:

Original Quill wrote:Debt like that is really bad.  $15-million for $60-thousand means it's debt with a lot of mold on it. Oliver's not really giving away that much.  I would bet that all of it is past the statute of limitations date, so that it is uncollectible...unless some poor sucker didn't know the law and sent in his or her check.

Which shows you the shitty, lying edge of existence some of these factoring companies live on.

Some of what you say is plausible, Quill ...but as often is the truth that lenders want their books cleaned up ASAP and they hate having 'Bad Debt' linger on their aging report for years. Always a large portion of accumulated debt are attached late fees and interest that can just be written off by the lender.  
So they are very willing to recoup some of their losses and writing off large chunks of it just to clean up their books and financial portfolios - and for the middle man doing the negotiations and keeping the transactions out of a court system ...it's a win-win for everyone.

Yes, I agree for the most part. The problem arises when you say "recoup some of their losses..." If they are going to write it off, stop playing with the green nastys who exist on the edge of morality. Write it off, get a tax break, and fuhgettaboutit.

As you said, much of the charges are trumped up shit anyway. What kind of person would feed his family on that kind of profit; may his ducks come down with food poisoning.

  WHOA, mister ... I was as clueless as 90% of America ...until I started doing this as a 'home based business'; I had no idea that those 'WHORE MONGERS' would be as flexible as possible to keep from having to pay their huge corporate attorneys fees {sorry that was not meant as a jab at your profession} and get what ever minute % of the debt paid and that off of their historic A/R aging books. Even Banks - Home Loans etc., etc., etc., ... 

But it was quite an 'eye opener' and something I think needs to be a 'MANDATORY' class in our high schools, along with check book balancing & household budgets!  IMO 
Mandatory P.E. class will just get 80% of those young people just so far in life; mandatory household budgets/check book reconciliation/bad debt mediation is for LIFE!

4EVER2 wrote:  WHOA, mister ... I was as clueless as 90% of America ...until I started doing this as a 'home based business'; I had no idea that those 'WHORE MONGERS' would be as flexible as possible to keep from having to pay their huge corporate attorneys fees {sorry that was not meant as a jab at your profession} and get what ever minute % of the debt paid and that off of their historic A/R aging books. Even Banks - Home Loans etc., etc., etc., ... 

So I gather you agree with me. BTW, we keep our fees high to filter out the riff-raff. The green nastys don't even use attorneys...they use harassment tactics. They are the slime of the universe.

The debt that they are buying is past the statute of limitations, which is usually 4 - 5 years for contract claims in most states. That means it's not even a debt. So these guys have to lie--which is a fraud in most states--in order to collect. They are collecting on a falsified debt.

Mostly, they are successful on the elderly, who no longer have the systems and wits to know the nature of the debt. The debt may be a forgotten payment of $12.00, but has swollen into $1,200.00, with fees and penalties. In California, we have the strongest fraud law for the elderly in the world. The element of 'bad'faith' is not just deceit; if you know the person should ask, and you don't inform that person, then you are guilty of fraud. It puts the obligation on the bad guy to tell the truth or go to jail (where they belong).

Well, my brother was designing software back in the early 80's and I joined his 'Collection Agency' in 1989. Now the every {dog} in the area and attorney's have put a couple legal aide's into that specialized field - even GMAC has been buying bad debt from those scum-sucking bad lenders like Bank4 and those huge number of home loans that they fudged up on. 
Sadly not all states have such finite lines that 'Collectors' are allowed to say and are not allowed to say or do in order to attempt to collect an account in arrears, as my state does!

But not a lot of elderly of general John Q Public know that and assume that the Collection Agency is 'GOD' incarnate and can throw them in jail.
Guess there will always be the 'BLOOD SUCKERS' when there's blood to be sucked.