The Biden administration wants to stop medical debt from hurting Americans’ credit scores.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced this week that it has begun a rulemaking process to remove medical bills from Americans’ credit reports.
For years, medical debt has harmed people’s credit scores. Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is announcing plans to remove medical debt from Americans’ credit reports and allow millions of people to invest in their futures. pic.twitter.com/XSxPiVzZMi
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 22, 2023
About 20% of U.S. households have medical debt, with about $88 billion in medical bills appearing on credit reports, the bureau said last year.
“Research shows that medical bills have little predictive value in credit decisions, yet tens of millions of American households are dealing with medical debt on their credit reports,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a news release. “When someone gets sick, they should be able to focus on getting better, rather than fighting debt collectors trying to extort them into paying bills they may not even owe.”
The proposed changes would remove medical bills from consumers’ credit reports and stop creditors from relying on medical bills for underwriting decisions, the bureau said.
