services and information to help people manage the emotional, practical and financial challenges of cancer", CancerCare has provided $39.7 million as a financial assistance to reportedly 24,767 people in order to help with treatment-related medical costs. Debt negotiation According to Dr. Marty Makary, the professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a surgeon at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, debt negotiation is achievable before, during and after the health care services in the process of a high costing of medical expenses. On the other hand, the issue of inaccuracy is common in the health care sector related to the price of services and in case of any inaccuracy is better to be reviewed before the negotiation process. Dr. Carolyn McClanahan, the founder and director of financial planning at Life Planning Partners, says that patients should double-check whether they received all the services for which they are billed. America's Debt Help Organization encourages patients to check the medical bills for the common mistakes such as double billing, fraudulent charges and coding (typo) errors with the insurance company as the first course of action before going into the debt negotiation process. Debt forgiveness In 2016 John Oliver forgave $14.9 million of medical debt on his Last Week Tonight show. The debt was purchased for just $60,000 through a company named "Central Asset Recovery Professionals" (or CARP, a pun on the bottom feeding fish) which Oliver said had cost just $50 to create. After the purchase he reportedly received a portfolio offering the names, current addresses and Social Security numbers of about 9,000 people which was sent to the RIP Medical Debt organization in order to have the debt forgiven. In 2018, two local women from the Finger Lakes region in New York partnered with the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt after fundraising for the purpose of debt collection for debt forgiveness. The nonprofit looks for bundled packages of debt from first or third party agencies which the group negotiates to purchase at discounted prices (pennies on the dollar). The two women initially raised $12,500 and used this money to purchase $1.5 million of medical debt through RIP Medical Debt, which was then forgiven. Debt consolidation Debt consolidation may be an option for those who carry medical debt on credit cards, by providing a reduced interest rate. See also Charge description master Financial toxicity Health care in