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 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
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
On November 9, the State of Minnesota enacted Chapter 70--S.F.No. 2995, a large bill to amend certain sections of its current health care provisions. The bill covers extensive changes to healthcare provisions, from...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
Nonprofit hospitals, nursing homes and other care providers are now prohibited from placing liens on patient homes or garnishing patient wages to collect medical debts in New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the law...more
Big hospitals and hospital chains that enjoy the financial and reputational benefits of nonprofit or charitable status have taken major fire for maximizing profits while piling on patients’ crushing medical debt and...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
Last week, the Maryland Senate and the House of Representatives each voted unanimously to approve bills that would limit a hospital’s means of collecting past due medical debt. Senate Bill 0514 and House Bill 0565 now move...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
Our annual survey of health law cases for 2019 includes a number of notable decisions affecting the practice of medicine and the delivery of other health care services in Connecticut. These include the Connecticut Supreme...more
Politicians almost by reflex decry the skyrocketing cost of U.S. health care by blaming much of it on waste, fraud, abuse. They, alas, really may be on to something, newly published research shows....more
Is a public pillorying the only way to stop big hospitals from pursuing patients for medical debt with the zeal of demons from the underworld?...more
Baisden v. Credit Adjustments, Inc., No. 15-3411, 2016 WL 561735 (6th Cir. Feb. 12, 2016) - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that two hospital patients consented to a debt collection agency's...more