demandprogress.org

Medical debt is a big burden for people nationwide.

People don’t choose to go into medical debt. It’s not like buying a car or a home or using your credit card to buy clothes or a dinner out. Medical debt almost always happens because someone becomes unexpectedly sick or injured in an accident. Medical debt is forced on Americans because we’re currently the only industrialized country in the world that doesn’t offer a Medicare for All type system for everyone.

The repercussions can be devastating. When medical debt is reported on credit reports, it can be much harder for someone to secure employment or housing. It’s likely to increase interest rates or make it harder to get other credit to buy a car or a home. And perhaps worst of all, unpaid medical debt can have the effect of making people avoid needed medical care in the future.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) estimates at least $88 billion in medical debt appears on American credit reports. They believe the total amount of medical debt may be even higher.

To make it worse, information about medical debt is often plagued with inaccuracies and errors due to the complexity of medical billing. In fact, many consumers do not find out about an erroneous medical bill in collections before being denied a mortgage, car loan, or credit card based on their consumer report.

Now, the CFPB has issued a new regulation to stop Experian, TransUnion, Equifax, or any other reporting agency from using medical debt in credit scores.

Medical debt will not even appear on consumer credit reports at all. And, debt collectors will be barred from using medical devices as loan collateral protecting consumers from having their wheelchairs or prosthetic limbs repossessed if the debt goes unpaid. (Yes, this actually happens!)^[1]

Here’s the deal, before the CFPB can implement the new regulation, they have to show board support during the official public comment period.

Big Pharma, Wall Street and Health insurance companies are doing everything they can to stop this from happening. That’s why we have to step up now.