Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: Should Medical Debt Be Included in Creditworthiness Measures?
Keeping Up With the Bureau Episode 3: Evolving Federal and State Requirements for Furnishers and Users of Consumer Reports - The Consumer Finance Podcast
On July 1, North Carolina announced a new plan to relieve past medical debt for low- and middle-income consumers and mitigate the impact of medical debt going forward. Under the proposal, hospitals that choose to implement...more
Over the course of the last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) has increased its scrutiny of medical financing products, such as medical credit cards and installment loans. In July 2023, the CFPB...more
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont recently signed a new bill into law that prohibits healthcare providers from reporting patients’ medical debt to credit rating agencies. The law goes into effect on July 1, 2024. In addition,...more
On May 9, 2024, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act No. 24-6, “An Act Concerning the Reporting of Medical Debt,” (The Act). The Act prohibits health care providers from reporting medical debt to credit...more
On February 1, the Attorney General from Washington State successfully sued a large healthcare group to pay over $158 million for settlement of funds under the state’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA). The Washington AG stated...more
Healthcare providers in New York are no longer permitted to report patient debt to credit agencies. The new law, known as the Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act, took effect December 13, 2023, and applies broadly to hospitals,...more
Colorado and New York are not waiting for the Fair Credit Reporting Act rulemaking to eliminate creditor use of medical debt announced by the CFPB in September 2023. As we previously blogged, in the past two years, Equifax,...more
On December 13, the New York governor signed into law S4907A, or the Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act (the “Act”), a medical debt credit reporting bill that will bar credit reporting agencies from directly or indirectly...more
Making the season bright - As the year draws to a close, seasonal thoughts turn to charitable giving and goodwill towards all people, especially those in need. Gratitude for our own gifts and the wish to share good...more
Starting in mid-2024, Illinois hospitals will be required to take a much more active role in limiting consumers’ medical debt by screening all consenting uninsured patients for both public health insurance program coverage...more
Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) kicked off a rulemaking process that, if enacted, would reshape the credit reporting and debt collection landscape and could have a detrimental effect on medical and...more
Noise and light can be bad for us just like dirty water and air - The picture-perfect spot to live our healthiest lives would be temperate, with fresh air, sparkling water, and night skies ablaze with stars. It would...more
American Bankers Association (ABA), Association of Credit and Collection Professionals (ACA International), U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Chamber), Synchrony Bank (Synchrony), and National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) submitted...more
Physicians, hospitals, and healthcare providers: have you updated your billing practices? As of September, any individual or facility licensed or certified to provide healthcare services in Texas must provide an itemized...more
On July 7th, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Treasury (collectively, the agencies) jointly issued a Request for Information (Request)...more
Earlier this month, the CFPB published a report on specialty financial products, such as medical credit cards and installment loans, which are sold to patients as a way to address the growing costs of medical care. The report...more
New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed legislation designed to prevent New York hospitals and medical providers from employing certain collection practices against patients with medical debt. This protection became...more
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibits debt collectors from using abusive, unfair, or deceptive practices when collecting consumer debts. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) enforces the FDCPA...more
Creditors and medical services providers should reevaluate their consumer credit agreements and collection practices in light of a recent amendment to Washington, D.C.’s debt collection law, which goes into effect on January...more
White House Activity Surrounding Medical Debt - On April 11, 2022, the White House announced plans in line with a recent government focus on medical debt and credit reporting that could impact medical providers, the...more
Idaho has enacted limited changes to the Idaho Patient Act (IPA) that make it somewhat easier for healthcare providers and facilities to jump through the IPA hoops before pursuing collection actions against patients. A copy...more
In this season of goodwill, gratitude, and giving, it's worth considering that both friends and strangers can have medical needs that we can ease with little pain or inconvenience to ourselves. Here's a sampling of five ways...more
A scandal of the U.S. health system may be far worse than imagined, with the medical debt sold to collection agencies alone amounting to a staggering $140 billion. The $140 billion estimate came from researchers who...more
In its Advisory Opinion (AO), AO 20-04, HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) determined that the requestor, a charitable organization that locates, buys and forgives patient medical debt, may purchase or receive as...more
On July 24, 2020, OIG issued an Advisory Opinion (AO), AO 20-04, regarding whether an arrangement where a charitable organization purchases or receives donations of unpaid medical debt from health care providers, and then...more