Jerry Ashton Shares Journey to End $3 Billion in Medical Debt in US

April 21, 2024 by Pat Lynch, Editor-in-Chief

Jerry Ashton, Co-Founder of RIP Medical Debt, began this organization with his friend, colleague, and co-founder Craig Antico. Jerry had over four decades of experience in the credit and collections world and was semi-retired when he decided to use his journalism background in the Navy to go to New York City and experience and document Occupy Wall Street. The experience changed his life. He joined as an advisor to a charity that Occupy was just starting called The Rolling Jubilee which was struggling to bring the public’s attention to medical debt. “I invited my industry colleague, Craig Antico to join me and employ his abilities to buy medical debt from debt buyers. We did that for two years, helping abolish over $30M in medical, payday loan, tuition, and other debt.” When Occupy began to dissipate, their RJ team told Craig that they would be closing down that charity and “going in a different direction.” Jerry and Craig looked at each other and said, “We can’t let that happen.” The result of that decision was the launch of RIP as a 501(c)(3) charity in January 2014. The result of that meeting has led to a reduction in medical debt of $11,857,900,368.72 in medical debt for 7,450,079 Americans across the country, Hawaii, and Alaska, to date.

Coming next, Part 2, another interview with Jerry Ashton, who will talk about the newest program he has started and directed to eliminating debt for US Veterans.

Links:

Early CBS story on RIP – 2015

CBS Sunday Morning Jerry Ashton interview with Martha Teishner

Filed Under: Health, World Tagged With: advice, author, awareness, business, health, I AM, Internet, internet radio, joy, on-demand radio, online, online radio, pat lynch, personalgrowth, podcast, radio, radio for women, women, women's radio network, women1994, Womens Radio, WomensRadio

About Pat Lynch, Editor-in-Chief

Pat Lynch

In 1969 at the age of 25, Ms. Lynch, having already served as the Press Secretary for a U.S. Senator and Congressman, founded her first advertising agency in Atlanta, Georgia, becoming the first woman to begin an advertising agency single-handedly in the South. By 1977, she had been listed twice in The World’s Who’s Who of Women, in the International Who’s Who and Strathmore’s Who’s Who. She and her agency gained a reputation for introducing media, particularly radio and television, to industries, which had never considered using them to deliver their advertising messages. One such industry was real estate (both residential and commercial). Her clients have included Turner Outdoor, Coco Cola, Miller Lite, Citizens Trust Company, LPGA, Pulte Builders, K&B, Ryland Homes, and a longer list of regional and national builders and developers, real estate investment trusts and banks, as well as local, regional and national political candidates, issues and referendums.

In 1996 in the Bay Area of California, Pat Lynch began Women’s Online Media and Education Network. In 1998, other doors being slammed shut, she began WomensRadio.com, to “give women a greater voice!” WomensRadio® became the first site to stream for women and is possibly one of the longest continually streaming sites on the Web. The audience was, and is, filled with “women leaders,” women 40-65+, most of whom can be identified as “Cultural Creatives,” as defined by researcher Dr. Paul Ray. In 2005, the company introduced a new audio production tool for the Web, AudioAcrobat®, that is now the state-of-the-art Web-based media tool for on-demand audio and video streaming and podcasting. This service provides audio and/or video streaming in emails, documents, social media and websites. Today, it is the tool of choice for thousands of users in some 150 countries and powers WomensRadio®.

Pat Lynch contributes her time and experience to many not-for-profits. When the City of Atlanta had experienced a season of multiple killings of young people, a time when the economy was also in a slump, the city was looking for a number of ways to create community and give kids at risk a brighter outlook. She volunteered her time and helped to create the largest party for young people that has ever been conducted. With only three months to pull together all the details, “It’s Time,” was an all-day event hosting some 10,000 kids in Piedmont Park, the largest park in the city. All the transportation to the event, all the food, all the cooks and servers, all the entertainment, all the prizes, everything – was provided for free! Mayor Andrew Young and Gerri Elder, Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, created a special plaque of appreciation which was presented to Ms. Lynch for her work in creating and conducting this event. Eight years later, she and her team created a major media event, The Rock 'n Roller Derby that brought the first rock 'n roll bands to the largest park in Atlanta, for the benefit of the City.

She has also worked tirelessly for other not-for-profits, largely in publicity and/or fund-raising for such organizations as Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy, American Heart Association.

While residing in California, she served on the boards of the Fresno, CA Court School PTA as President, Fresno Habitat for Humanity and the Fresno Ballet where she helped to raise funds to produce the first new Nutcracker in over 20 years. In the Bay Area, she served as the Media Chair for the California Women’s Agenda, was a member of the Women’s Leadership Alliance of the Bay Area, the National Council of Women's Organizations, and was on the Board of Directors of the Afghan Coalition and Afghan Women’s Association International.

Since then, she has served on the Board of Boardroom Bound (www.boardroom-bound.biz) and the National Women’s Political Caucus (www.nwpc.org) where she served as National Board Vice President of Communications. In 2015, she helped Co-found Basin and Range Organics, the new Nevada-based, USDA Certifying Agency and served as Secretary of that Board. While located in Reno, she served for two years as Secretary for the Reno/Sparks NAACP, volunteered on the Mayor’s Operation Downtown and was part of The Women’s March, OFA and other progressive organizations including the launch of Indivisible Reno.

Ms. Lynch attended Stuart Hall in Staunton, VA, and is an Alumni of The University of Tennessee, School of Journalism. While attending, she participated in many organizations on campus, including election to AWS (Associated Women Students), the school paper and Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. She is in the process of publishing her first novel, “Merger,” and is working on its sequel. Currently, she is creating a new virtual conference, “CreativesConnectLive,” to launch in the Spring of 2021.

She is a frequent speaker on the value of “speaking up” and creating new communication bridges to the future. She can be reached at womensradio@gmail.com