Medical Bill Art
2020
MSCHF
Paintings and website
Paintings of medical bills sold at the same price as the bills, to pay off medical debt.
An art collective has come up with a novel way of paying off three people's medical debt: turning their hospital bills into huge paintings and selling them to collectors for thousands of dollars.New York-based MSCHF, which is known for its irreverent art projects, identified Americans with sizable medical debt, including one with a bill for over $47,000. The group then hand-painted the invoices on 6-foot-tall canvases and sold them on the art market for precisely the amount owed.Beyond settling these individuals' debts with the money generated, the artists aim to make a wider commentary about the US health care system. Over 137 million people in the United States reported medical financial hardship, a 2019 study found.
