About 40 student volunteers created a local chapter of Dollar For, a national charity, to combat medical debt in the Austin community.

Karthik Venkudusamy, a biochemistry junior and co-president of Texas Dollar For, said the organization has already helped eliminate over $30,000 in medical debt since it first started in June. Venkudusamy said the organization is also waiting for an additional $65,000 to be cleared by various hospitals. 

Ria Goyal, a biochemistry senior and co-president of Texas Dollar For, said the organization raises awareness for hospital charity care programs. 

“Dollar For assists patients with going through the financial assistance applications at many nonprofit hospitals across the country,” Goyal said. “We help put the power back in the hands of patients.”

Per the Affordable Care Act, patients at nonprofit hospitals may apply for charity care and have their medical debt partially or fully waived. Goyal said these programs are designed by the individual hospital, and patients are often not aware of them.

“(Hospitals) make it really complicated,” said Gia Nguyen, a human development and family sciences freshman and Dollar For volunteer. “(We) sit down with them and help them fill out the application to make sure they can get the most money (waived).”

Goyal said Dollar For hopes to change how medical debt is perceived — the organization avoids using the term “debt forgiveness.”

“There’s nothing to forgive when you go to a hospital … to get the care you need. You’ve done nothing wrong. So there’s nothing for a hospital to forgive you (for),” Goyal said.”

Goyal said those in the organization began volunteering after having firsthand experiences with medical debt.

“My mom had breast cancer when I was in middle school,” Venkudusamy said. “Having close to $70,000 in medical bills rack up during that time really put our family in a little bit of a struggle.”

Venkudusamy said the organization is currently partnered with nonprofit organizations, such as the Micah 6 food pantry and the Trinity Center, which aids Austin’s homeless population. 

Goyal said the group hopes these partnerships will help them reach out to more people and spread more awareness as to how medical debt can be relieved. 

“(Our) presence in Austin really hasn’t been known,” Venkudusamy said. “That’s our main goal … (to) really make Dollar For a household name in Austin.”