Medical Debt Reporting Prohibition Reintroduced in Senate

A bill that would place specific limitations on the reporting of consumer medical debt has been reintroduced in the U.S. Senate after failing to advance out of committee last year.

The Medical Debt Responsibility Act  (Senate Bill 160) was introduced Monday by a group of Senators: Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

If passed, the bill would require credit bureaus to delete reports of any delinquent medical debt not exceeding $2,500 within 45 days after it is resolved.

This is the third time the bill has been introduced, and each time it has progressed further through Congress. Last year it received a hearing by the House Committee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, but never made it out of committee to a vote on the floor.

For more detail on the bill, check out the coverage on our sister site, insidePatientFinance.com.