Have you ever heard the one about the progressive, the moderate and the conservative bill collectors who walked into a charity? Well, they founded RIP Medical Debt, which since 2014 has forgiven close to $1 billion in medical debt. in America. Indeed, amid all the urgent debates over U.S. healthcare costs and coverage, we have overlooked the devastating personal and social impact of unpaid and unpayable medical debt.

These former debt collectors have written End Medical Debt as a pragmatic "big picture" look at America's healthcare system, which has produced an estimated $1 trillion in devastating medical debt. From their three distinct viewpoints, the authors take a realistic look at our possible solutions, such as debt forgiveness, repealing or dismantling the Affordable Care Act, insurance reform, Medicare-for-All, and setting legal limits on medical debt.

The three authors -- Jerry Ashton, Robert Goff and Craig Antico -- agree on the economic causes. They disagree on the solutions. Well, all solutions save their one simple act of charity: Abolish uncollectible medical debt by buying it and forgiving it as a tax-exempt nonprofit. They see debt forgiveness as a necessary, but not sufficient, interim solution until we can agree on a better system for providing healthcare in the USA. End Medical Debt is an important step in that direction.

Jerry Ashton has more than 40 years of experience in the credit and collections industry. He is the co-founder and Executive VP of RIP Medical Debt in New York.

Robert Goff has more than 40 years in the healthcare industry. Retired as head of the University Physicians Network in NY, he is the founding board member of RIP.

Craig Antico has more than 30 years of experience in collections and debt buying. He is the co-founder, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of RIP Medical Debt.

Robert Goff and Jerry Ashton are the co-authors of The Patient, The Doctor and The Bill Collector: A Medical Debt Survival Guide, published in 2016 by Hoku House. For the new book, End Medical Debt, Hoku House is paying the authors 85 percent of all net revenues (publishers normally pay at most 15 percent), and the authors are donating 100 percent of their royalties to debt forgiveness.

More information about the book and the charity is available at RIPMedicalDebt.org.