Rockies icon Todd Helton helping relieve $10 million in medical debt for Coloradans

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Retired Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton is helping eliminate millions of dollars in medical debt for Colorado residents.

Starting this month, Helton and the organization RIP Medical Debt will send letters to Colorado residents notifying them their medical bills will be covered. A total of $10 million in medical debt will be eliminated, per the Colorado Rockies newsletter. Medical expenses are one of the top causes of bankruptcy in the United States.

The five-time All-Star said Monday that he came up with the idea after seeing friend and fellow University of Tennessee alum Ryan Jumonville do something similar in Florida.

“My good friend (Jumonville) recently took care of $100M in medical debt for the people in his home state of Florida," Helton said in a release on MLB.com. "I was inspired and wanted to do something similar for the people of Colorado.”

What is RIP Medical Debt?
The Long Island, N.Y.-based not-for-profit started in 2014. The national charity states it raises funds from donors and then uses those funds to pay off medical debt for people in need.

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RIP Medical Debt says the organization's paid off more than $10 billion in medical debt for more than 6.7 million families. Requirements for assistance are individuals who are four times or below the federal poverty level or individuals whose medical debt is 5% or more of their gross annual income.