Public testimony urges ban on medical debt reporting as committee begins first hearing on SB 605

The Senate Committee on Labor and Business opened a first public hearing on Jan. 30 for Senate Bill 605, a measure that would prohibit medical service providers from reporting the amount or existence of medical debt to consumer reporting agencies and would prohibit consumer reporting agencies from including in consumer reports items they know or should know are medical debt.

Sponsors Senator Winsve Campos (Senate District 18) and Representative Nathan Sosa (House District 30) urged the committee to support SB 605 as an economic-justice measure. Senator Campos testified that removing medical debt from credit reports would help Oregonians access affordable credit, housing and employment; she said medical debt disproportionately affects Black, Latine and Indigenous households and recounted a personal example of receiving an unexpected medical bill. Representative Sosa said the bill does not absolve debt but shields consumers from having emergency medical expenses "destroy someone's credit and derail their financial future." Both sponsors urged the committee to advance the bill.

A broad array of advocates testified in support, citing stories and survey data:

- Andrea Sanchez, Oregon advocacy leader for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, described patients…