Health Affairs August 9, 2024
Amidst the growing interest among policymakers to protect patients from medical debt and its negative downstream effects, in April 2023, the three credit reporting agencies (CRAs)—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—voluntarily agreed to stop reporting any medical debt under $500. This April, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found that, despite these changes, 15 million Americans still have $49 billion worth of medical bills on their credit reports. In particular, CFPB found that medical debt disproportionately burdens older Americans as well as low-income and rural communities.
In an effort to protect these patients, CFPB issued a proposed rule in June 2024 seeking to ban medical debt from certain credit reports. If finalized, the rule would also stop creditors from relying on medical...
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