Debt Gala co-founders, from left, Molly Gaebe, Tom Costello and Amanda Corday, appear at the Debt Gala in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Sunday, May 5, 2024. Some 200 attendees sought to help alleviate medical debt at the second annual benefit, one of several alternative fundraisers that have popped up around the star-studded Met Gala. – A plush octopus by Jellycat. A neck pillow by XpresSpa. Graphic sleeping masks by Geyoga.
This year’s beneficiaries are the Debt Collective, a debtors’ union born from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and Dollar For, a non-profit that reports having eliminated almost $50 million in medical debt by ensuring lower-income patients get discounted health services. The Washington-based organization connects financially strapped families facing overwhelming medical expenses with legal teams who help them obtain charity care. Walker said every dollar raised will eliminate over $25 of medical debt.Organizers had pitched the event as a night for those “that may never be able to buy a house” and a “red carpet for the people.” Dinosaur slippers and pink curlers contrasted with the Louboutins and bedazzled tiaras of past Met Galas.
The anti-capitalist sentiment and attention to New York's greater cultural scene continued through a series of sometimes crude standup comedy sets and lively drag queen performances. Comedian Tina Friml joked that she wore a plain outfit because she sleeps in street clothes — before later confessing that she actually falls asleep naked.
Debtors at Sunday evening's gala emphasized the need to fight health care inequalities baked into the system of medical debt. Philip Bjerknes, a longtime Brooklyn resident, said he incurred around $50,000 in hospital bills during a one-month institutionalization against his will after a suicide attempt.
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