The Biden administration on Thursday announced plans to remove medical bills from Americans’ credit reports in a push to end what it called coercive debt collection tactics that affect millions of consumers.
Proposals under consideration would help families financially recover from medical crises, stop debt collectors from coercing people into paying bills they may not even owe, and ensure that creditors are not relying on data that is often plagued with inaccuracies and mistakes, Vice President Kamala Harris and Rohit Chopra, the top consumer finance watchdog, announced.
Harris told reporters that more than 100 million Americans had unpaid medical debt.
“Many of the debts people have accrued are due to medical emergencies,” she said. “We know credit scores determine whether a person can have economic health and wellbeing, much less the ability to grow their wealth.”
Chopra’s agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, reported last year that roughly 20% of Americans have medical debt, but CFPB said its data also showed medical billing data is a poor indicator of whether consumers’ are likely to pay down traditional debts.
The Brookings Institution think tank also found big gaps in medical debt statistics, with some 80% of debt held by households with zero or negative net worth, and communities of color hit especially hard. For instance, 27% of Black households hold medical debt compared with 16.8% of non-Black households.
According to the CFPB, the Fair Credit Reporting Act restricts the use of medical information in credit decisions and credit reports. The agency on Thursday announced policy outlines that could give rise to new regulations.
What’s mind boggling to this Canadian, is many “Premium” health insurances which cost hundreds a month don’t do anything for you even when something happens until your bill reaches a deductible in the 1000s of USD!
Typical extended healthcare plans in Canada generally cover 60-100% of procedures, sometimes with a deductible of something almost always less than $100. I don’t have a clue what American insurance companies do other than screw their customers and pretend to know enough to deny treatment.
All these seem like funny words to me in Germany. We pay 10 € a day if we have to stay in a hospital, for the food and room. Also for some drugs there is copay, but it is limited to a few bucks.
Anyone who is a regular employee does not have to worry about paying for necessary medical procedures.
Is the 10 € a day covered by universal health care there or do you pay it outright you mean?
you have to pay it outright as it is not considered a health expense bur rather hospitality. Iirc. people how get social assistance can get it refunded.
My hospital deductible is $2000. I’ve had to pay it twice in the past two years. Plus lots of co-pays. I have “great” insurance.
I’m too scared at this point to ask what a hospital deductible is. The combined annual cost of the highest tier dental and health insurance at my work is less than half of $2000.