'Sh**’s wild': Scaling up, doubling down, and buckling in

About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of Dollar For and its founder Jared Walker on addressing medical debt through charity care.

For five years, we’ve been following the work of Dollar For and its founder Jared Walker, watching them quickly scale up their efforts to help people crush medical debt by tapping into “charity care” — the financial assistance that hospitals are legally required to offer some patients.  Their work represents what a small, scrappy, thoughtful group of people can do. Last year, their tiny staff helped wipe out more than $55 million in medical bills.  As we kick off 2026, we thought it was time to check in again. After all, this will be a year when millions more people will have trouble covering their medical bills — when Dollar For’s work may become more important to more people, and when we’re hungry for more ways to help each other.  As Jared tells it, 2025 proved to be a pivotal – yet rocky – period in the organization’s story. Both their successes and their challenges put into stark relief exactly what we’re all up against.  So we go deep with Jared on what they achieved while they weathered the chaos, and what it might mean for their – and our collective – next moves. &nbsp…

People in this episode

Guest: Jared Walker

Topics covered

• medical debt
• charity care
• financial assistance
• healthcare challenges
• nonprofit work
• community support

Keywords

• medical debt
• Dollar For
• charity care
• Jared Walker
• financial assistance
• healthcare
• 2025
• 2026

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Dollar For

Books & works: Sh**’s wild

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