Snap Co-Founder Donation Erases $550 Million in California Medical Debt

A multimillion-dollar donation from Snap co-founder Evan Spiegel and his wife Miranda Kerr has erased $550 million in unpaid medical bills for more than 261,000 Californians, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Los Angeles Times reported that starting in mid-July, eligible residents will receive letters confirming their debt has been canceled.

Recipients qualify if they earn at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level or if their medical debt exceeds 5 percent of annual income. San Diego County will receive the largest share of the relief, with roughly $99 million cleared for about 40,000 residents.

Los Angeles County will see $26.7 million in relief for around 17,500 people.

Medical Debt buys portfolios of uncollectible hospital and physician debt at steep discounts and then cancels the obligations outright. The organization states that every $10 donated eliminates roughly $1,000 in patient debt. ” She noted that one in four U.S. adults carries medical debt.

The approach mirrors gifts from other large donors.

MacKenzie Scott previously gave Undue Medical Debt $50 million in 2020, $30 million in 2022, and another donation in December 2024, helping the group abolish more than $40 billion in medical debt nationwide. In 2023 the Jane and Daniel Och Family Foundation used the same method to clear $264 million for more than 125,000 Miami-Dade residents.

New York City allocated $18 million in municipal funds to retire nearly $135 million for over 75,000 New Yorkers. Cook County, Illinois, spent $9 million in federal ARPA funds to retire $1 billion in local medical debt. In April 2025 Undue Medical Debt announced a single transaction retiring a $30 billion portfolio affecting 20 million people.