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Bill to bar medical‑debt liens on primary residences returns to committee after interim negotiations
Summary
A bill that would prevent medical‑debt collectors from placing liens on primary residences and would limit certain medical‑credit‑card collections was presented; sponsor and supporters described changes since last year's session and said they are working with opponents on definitions for "medical credit cards."
A bill that would protect Marylanders’ primary homes from medical‑debt collection returned to the House Health and Government Operations Committee with sponsor and advocates reporting interim changes and ongoing negotiations with debt‑collection interests.
"So what the bill does... it protects a person's primary residence from medical debt collection," Delegate Embry said, describing revisions made after last year’s session and an added provision aimed at money judgments that can operate as automatic liens.
The sponsor told the committee the revised draft addresses an automatic lien that occurs when a money judgment is entered and that the clerk’s office would be required to avoid placing a lien on a primary residence for qualifying medical debt if the collector affirms the debt meets the medical‑debt definition set in the bill.
Supporters from consumer and legal aid organizations described national and state data on the scope of the problem. Marceline White said prior work showed "44 percent of Maryland households with medical debt said it's from outpatient services like dentists, dermatologists, etc." She and other witnesses urged the committee to include medical credit cards narrowly — limited to cards used solely for medical services — because national research shows high rates of enrollment and subsequent lawsuits tied to such products.
Opponents in the debt‑collection bar and law firms warned that the proposed procedural changes could create litigation burdens and uncertainty, particularly because in Maryland a circuit‑court money judgment is itself a lien in many jurisdictions; those witnesses proposed adopting language modeled on Virginia and on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau guidance to narrow definitions.
Ending: Sponsor said she is coordinating with opponents and judicial staff to refine definitions and requested that negotiators work with committee staff and the judiciary; the hearing concluded with an agreement to continue drafting clarifying amendments.
