Committee Hears Bill to Bar Medical Debt from Credit Reports; Hospitals and Advocates Largely Support It

The Consumer Protection & Business Committee held a public hearing March 18 on Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5480, a proposal to prohibit hospitals, physician groups, professional partners and collection agencies from reporting medical debt to consumer credit reporting agencies and to bar credit reporting agencies from including medical debt on consumers’ credit reports.

Megan Mulvihill, staff to the committee, described current practice: health care entities may sell or assign unpaid medical debt to collections, collections agencies may report debt to credit reporting agencies after statutorily enumerated days, and credit reporting affects access to housing, loans and employment decisions. “Engrossed substitute Senate Bill 5,480 modifies the definition of medical debt to mean debt owed by a consumer to a person whose primary business is providing medical services, products, or devices,” Mulvihill said, adding the bill excludes cosmetic surgery and does not apply to consumer lending decisions.

Under the bill as presented, medical bills — even those not past due or already paid — would not appear on…