Two-weeks ago, I got a panicked call from my teen son. He had dislocated his knee at Judo practice, couldn’t get up, and didn’t know what to do. I told him to call an ambulance, then I hopped in the car to go to him. As I drove there, I was—of course—extremely worried about my son, but, if I’m being honest, I was also very worried about how much the ambulance ride and ER visit would cost, despite having insurance!
No one should delay or avoid needed medical treatment because of cost, but it is incredibly common in the United States.
What’s happening? The Fair Credit Reporting Act prohibits creditors from considering a person’s medical information, but there is currently an exception for medical debt information. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed a rule to remove this exception so that medical debt information will no longer be included on credit reports used by creditors.
The CFPB is currently taking public comments on this proposed rule. Medical debt negatively impacts the wellbeing and financial freedom of families across the country. Parents are significantly more likely than non-parents to have health care debt from their own or someone else’s medical or dental bills. Further, new mothers are twice as likely to have medical debt as young women who did not recently give birth.
Grappling with the reality of medical debt makes it harder for families to make ends meet and plan for the future. Forty-one percent of all U.S. adults have health care debt, with the burden falling disproportionately on Black and Latinx communities, people who have recently given birth, and people with disabilities. This is not ok!
An anonymous MomsRising member in Florida recently told us, “My husband is disabled and requires ongoing healthcare in order to live a happy life... He has already experienced thousands of dollars in medical debt that we have had to fight to get removed from his credit record. No one deserves death or lifelong debt because they lack money to pay for essential services.”
Don’t forget to sign on in support of CFPB’s proposed rule to ban medical debt from credit reports!
Has medical debt negatively impacted your credit? Tell us your story!
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