A $75,000 gift from North Austin's Covenant Presbyterian Church is being used to relieve medical debt for people in ZIP code 78753. The reported outcome and the church denomination's projection differ: one account says the donation helped erase $14 million in debt, while another says it could erase more than $14 million.
The Austin American-Statesman reported that the donation helped erase $14 million in medical debt for 10,865 people. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Covenant's denomination, described the amount as a projection: the $75,000 investment could erase more than $14 million. The distinction matters because Undue Medical Debt's purchasing model turns donations into an estimated amount of relief. The organization says it buys bundled medical debts at steep discounts and that every $10 donated relieves an average of $1,000 in debt for financially vulnerable families.
How Covenant Directed Its Community Giving
The gift to Undue Medical Debt was one piece of a $200,000 pool that Covenant's elders handed to the church's mission committee, instructing them to use it to serve the community. The denomination's report notes the church has more than 1,900 members and a budget of about $4.6 million. The mission committee zeroed in on Travis County as its area of need, and Undue Medical Debt further narrowed the pool of recipients to people living in ZIP code 78753, an area in North Austin bounded by U.S. 183, Howard Lane, Lamar Boulevard and Dessau Road where average household income runs noticeably below the broader Austin and Travis County average.
The $200,000 in community giving did not stop with medical debt. Covenant also sent money to other local organizations working on financial stability, reflecting a broader strategy of attacking different financial barriers facing the same stretch of Austin.
Why Medical Debt Hits Texas So Hard
The timing lands as medical debt remains a stubborn national problem, especially for people without insurance. As reported by KFF, 62% of uninsured adults said they carried health care debt in 2024, compared with 44% of insured adults, and the number of uninsured people under 65 climbed by more than 1.3 million to 26.7 million that year. Nearly four in ten uninsured adults also reported delaying or skipping needed care or medication because of cost, per the same KFF data.
Texas carries an outsized share of that burden. More than 16% of Texans are uninsured, according to Spectrum News, citing KFF figures that make Texas the state with the highest number of people lacking health coverage. Nationally, roughly 20 million adults — nearly one in 12 — owed medical debt as of the end of 2021, with total medical debt owed reaching at least $220 billion, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. That same analysis found adults who were uninsured for only part of a year were more likely to carry medical debt than those insured year-round, and that adults with disabilities reported medical debt at more than twice the rate of those without.
Local Options for Uninsured Travis County Residents
For Travis County residents who remain uninsured, Central Health offers its Medical Assistance Program, known as MAP, along with a pared-down MAP Basic option, to connect people with local doctors, specialists and pharmacies. Uninsured residents with income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level may qualify for either program if they meet additional eligibility rules, according to Central Health.
Accessing care while uninsured
Central Health says uninsured Travis County residents with income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level may qualify for its Medical Assistance Program (MAP) or MAP Basic if they meet other eligibility criteria. The programs provide access to local health services, not relief from medical debt, according to Central Health.
Covenant's effort also isn't the only local campaign chipping away at medical debt in the county. A separate campaign, led by a local high school senior named Yorio, raised more than $26,000 that erased $4.75 million in medical debt for 3,835 people in Travis County, according to KXAN. It's a reminder that relatively small sums, funneled through the kind of bulk-purchasing model Undue Medical Debt uses, can translate into outsized relief for families burdened by hospital bills.
