Medical Debt and Credit Scores - A Bad Mix
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Medical Debt
Of our 35 peer industrialized nations we are the only ones who still think medical debt and bankruptcy are a good thing. When there is universal healthcare it just doesn’t happen.
We have reported how some hospitals make patients sign finance contracts before admittance, how non profit hospitals aggressively pursue those who cannot pay, how putting medical debt on a credit card can cause financial hardship and debt and that the vast majority of the million bankruptcies in the US are caused by medical debt.
When you have debt reported to a credit reporting agency it can have a very negative effect on your life. Unpaid bills can lead to a lower credit score. A lower credit score can affect your ability to get a job or a place to live, or buy a car or insurance or even get a credit card. So many things are affected by what you could not control. Getting sick and needing medical attention should not punish you for years on end.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that the Biden administration was looking into altering the laws governing credit reporting. Yesterday Representative Katie Porter (CA) introduced legislation that would preclude including medical debt in credit scores. It is a step in the right direction. It is H.R. 6003 - To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit the inclusion of medical debt on a consumer report, and for other purposes. The bill has 23 cosponsors in the House of Representatives. It doesn’t fix everything but it is a start.
ACTION
Let’s ask our Congressperson to cosponsor and enact H.R. 6003, that will keep medical debt off of credit reports. If they have sponsored it we can thank them (check here), if not we can ask then to cosponsor and support it. You can call your representative at (202) 224-3121 or by email democracy.io.
You can also send the email below with RESISTBOT by texting to 50409 SIGN PVQOMP.
“I am your constituent and I want you to know that medical debt can damage your credit score. A low score affects how much you pay for insurance, can preclude you from getting a place to live or being hired for a job, buying a car, or getting a credit card. This is horribly unfair. You get sick, can’t pay huge medical bills and now you’re in a downward spiral that ends in bankruptcy for so many of us. Millions of Americans have medical debt and it affects their credit score negatively. The good news is you can fix this. I want you to cosponsor and support H.R. 6003 which amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to keep medical debt out of credit scores. Of course, if we had Universal Healthcare we wouldn’t be having this discussion would we?”
EXTRA CREDIT (Donation)
If you’re feeling generous there is a charity that buys up medical debt for about 1% of the original value and retires it. It is called RIP Medical Debt. Here is their website https://ripmedicaldebt.org/.
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