Talk show host John Oliver buys and forgives $20m worth of medical debt

US talk show host John Oliver has made history by buying and forgiving $20.3 million worth of other people's medical debt in a segment focused on the practices of the debt-buying industry.

US talk show host John Oliver forgives $US15 million of medical debt to shine light on debt collection industry. Source: YouTube

Talk show host John Oliver has made what could be the biggest giveaway sum in television history after buying and forgiving $20.3 million ($US15 million) worth of medical debt owed by about 9000 people.

The comedian and host ended HBO's Last Week Tonight with an in-depth segment showing how easy it was to buy debt in an industry which used abusive and aggressive methods to recover outstanding payments. 

Oliver said the show created its own debt-acquisition company for about $50 and bought a medical debt portfolio worth more than $20.3 million - a process he said was "disturbingly easy".

The portfolio included the personal information of some 9000 people and cost less than half a cent for each dollar owed - about $80,000 (about $US60 million) in total.

He explained how companies bought debt from banks and then tried to collect money from people regardless of how accurate information may be. 

Oliver said once the show had bought the debt, "which is absolutely terrifying", he decided to forgive the debts through a non-profit organisation RIP Medical Debt, which specialises in forgiving medical debt, instead of chasing down the money. 

It was a process he said was "obviously the right thing to do".

"But much more importantly, we'd be staging the largest one-time giveaway in television show history," Oliver said.

He declared himself the "new Queen of daytime talk" as forgiving the debt meant he had topped Oprah Winfrey's giveaway of 276 cars to audience members in 2004, which was worth about $10 million.

RIP Medical Debt's co-founder Craig Antico told the Guardian many people now understood the collection industry practice and the debt treadmill it created. 

"In a painfully hilarious piece, John Oliver triumphantly out-Oprah's Oprah in giving away valuable gifts," he said.

Oliver said the act would help those 9000 people whose medical debt was bought, but tougher rules and more oversight was needed to protect consumers from potentially predatory companies similar to the one the show set up.