Thursday, March 28, 2024

HBO Lets John Oliver Buy $15 Mil of Medical Debt for $60,000 from Encore Capital

Share

Last night, HBO bailed 9,000 Texans out of medical debt.

The cabler let their brilliant weekly news star, John Oliver, buy $15 million worth of medical debt from Encore Capital for $60,000. And then Oliver forgave the debt. All those Texans are getting letters saying they no longer owe various medical bills.

Oliver — on fire last night about Trump and other issues– gave a scathing editorial about debt collection companies. He revealed how easy it was for his staff to start their own company, just with a website, which enabled them to solicit offers for bulk debt purchase.

Using the invented name CARP, Oliver bought a package from debt from Encore to prove how slimy the business is– in the files he received social security numbers and other personal information for 9,000 people Encore had been dunning. CARP stands for Central Asset Recovery Professionals — and carp, Oliver pointed out, are bottom feeding fish.


At that point, Oliver could have started dunning the customers himself. Instead, he and HBO turned the whole thing over to a firm that forgives debt without incurring tax fees.

Oliver billed it as the biggest TV giveaway of all time as he was relenting $15 million. But he and HBO had only spent $60,000 to buy it. So really, although he mocked Oprah Winfrey’s old auto giveaways, Oliver’s was a great act of generosity and mischief but maybe really not the biggest giveaway ever.

Still, it proved many points– not the least of which is how easy it is to buy junk.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
spot_img

Read more

In Other News