Thousands of families in Atlanta are ending the year with some relief after a church covered $1.5 million in medical debt for more than 1,100 people.

Spirit and Truth Church leaders announced plans to pay off the debt during a church service on Dec. 22, saying it was a move of compassion. 

“In the middle of rising insurance costs and healthcare changes, we didn’t ask what should the church do… we answered it,” Senior Pastor Mark Moore, Jr., wrote on a Facebook post. “Letters are being sent. Burdens are being lifted. Hope is being restored.”

Spirit and Truth Church has campuses in Atlanta and Detroit, Michigan. According to CBS News, the debt relief will help families and individuals across Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Henry Counties in the Atlanta metro area.

The relief comes as health care costs continue to rise nationwide. Medical debt in the United States affects more than 100 million Americans, who owe nearly $220 billion, according to the American Board of Internal Medicine.

In a recent study from KFF, polling found that high costs of healthcare are a significant burden on U.S. families. Healthcare costs and the prospect of unexpected medical bills are the top financial worries for adults and their families.

About one-third, or 36 percent, of U.S. adults say that they have skipped or postponed getting health care when needed because of the costs, and 75 percent of uninsured adults under the age of 65 say they went without needed care because of high costs.

In 2022, 41 percent of adults reported having debt due to medical or dental bills including debts owed to credit cards, collections agencies, family and friends, banks, and other lenders to pay for their health care costs, with disproportionate shares of Black and Hispanic adults, women, parents, those with low incomes, and uninsured adults saying they have health care debt.