[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3421 Reported in House (RH)]

                                                 Union Calendar No. 369
111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3421

                          [Report No. 111-629]

 To exclude from consumer credit reports medical debt that has been in 
 collection and has been fully paid or settled, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 30, 2009

Ms. Kilroy (for herself, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Minnick, Mr. Perriello, Ms. 
 Schakowsky, Mr. Baca, Ms. Speier, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Ellison, Ms. Moore 
 of Wisconsin, Ms. Fudge, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Hastings of Florida, and Mr. 
Al Green of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Financial Services

                           September 28, 2010

Additional sponsors: Ms. Titus, Mr. Hare, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. 
   Matsui, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. Shea-Porter, Mr. Cummings, Mr. 
  Schauer, Mr. Stark, Mr. Carnahan, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. 
Cohen, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Meek of 
Florida, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Ortiz, Mr. Olver, 
  Ms. Sutton, Ms. Edwards of Maryland, Mr. Courtney, Ms. Watson, Ms. 
 Woolsey, Mr. Honda, Ms. Richardson, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Ms. Clarke, Mr. 
 DeFazio, Mr. Bilbray, Mr. Holt, Mr. Reyes, Mr. Rothman of New Jersey, 
  Mr. McGovern, Mr. Pastor of Arizona, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. 
Filner, Mr. Capuano, Ms. Norton, Mr. Farr, Mr. Nadler of New York, Mr. 
 Clay, Mr. Berman, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Ms. Hirono, Ms. Kilpatrick of 
   Michigan, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Jackson Lee of Texas, Mr. Boswell, Mr. 
Massa, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Loebsack, Mr. Delahunt, 
   Mr. Rush, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Kanjorski, Ms. Waters, Mr. Towns, Ms. 
  DeLauro, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Meeks of New York, Mr. George Miller of 
  California, Mr. Sires, Mr. Michaud, Mrs. McCarthy of New York, Mr. 
Hodes, Ms. Pingree of Maine, Mr. Grayson, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of 
  Texas, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Peters, Ms. Corrine Brown of 
Florida, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. 
   Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. 
    Driehaus, Mr. Polis of Colorado, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Inslee, Mrs. 
 Napolitano, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Burgess, and Ms. 
                     Linda T. Sanchez of California

                           September 28, 2010

 Deleted sponsor: Mr. Marchant (added April 14, 2010; deleted July 26, 
                                 2010)

                           September 28, 2010

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To exclude from consumer credit reports medical debt that has been in 
 collection and has been fully paid or settled, and for other purposes.


 


    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    This Act may be cited as the ``Medical Debt Relief Act of 
2010''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Medical debt is unique because, unlike 
        consumer debt, Americans don't get to choose when accidents 
        happen or when their genetic traits will catch up to their 
        health profile.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Medical debt collection issues affect both 
        insured and uninsured consumers.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) According to credit evaluators, medical debt 
        collections are more likely to be in dispute, inconsistently 
        reported, and of questionable value in predicting future 
        payment performance because it is atypical and 
        nonpredictive.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) Nevertheless, medical debt that has been 
        completely paid off or settled can significantly damage a 
        consumer's credit score for years.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) As a result, consumers can be denied credit or 
        pay higher interest rates when buying a home or obtaining a 
        credit card.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (6) Healthcare providers are increasingly turning 
        to outside collection agencies to help secure payment from 
        patients and this comes at the expense of the consumer because 
        medical debts are not typically reported unless they become 
        assigned to collections.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (7) In fact, medical bills account for more than 
        half of all non-credit related collection actions reported to 
        consumer credit reporting agencies.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (8) The issue of medical debt affects 
        millions.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (9) According to the Commonwealth Fund, medical 
        bill problems or accrued medical debt affects roughly 
        72,000,000 working-age adults in American.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (10) For 2007, 28,000,000 working-age American 
        adults were contacted by a collection agency for unpaid medical 
        bills.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to exclude 
from consumer credit reports medical debt that had been characterized 
as debt in collection for credit reporting purposes and has been fully 
paid or settled.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Medical Debt Defined.--Section 603 of the Fair Credit 
Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph:</DELETED>
<DELETED>    ``(y) Medical Debt.--The term `medical debt' means a debt 
described in section 604(g)(1)(C).''</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Exclusion for Paid or Settled Medical Debt.--Section 
605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new paragraph:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(7) Any information related to a fully paid or 
        settled medical debt that had been characterized as debt in 
        collection for credit reporting purposes, which, from the date 
        of payment or settlement, antedates the report by more than 30 
        calendar days.''.</DELETED>

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Medical Debt Relief Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Medical debt is unique, and Americans do not choose 
        when accidents happen or when illness strikes.
            (2) Medical debt collection issues affect both insured and 
        uninsured consumers.
            (3) According to credit evaluators, medical debt 
        collections are more likely to be in dispute, inconsistently 
        reported, and of questionable value in predicting future 
        payment performance because it is atypical and nonpredictive.
            (4) Nevertheless, medical debt that has been completely 
        paid off or settled can significantly damage a consumer's 
        credit score for years.
            (5) As a result, consumers can be denied credit or pay 
        higher interest rates when buying a home or obtaining a credit 
        card.
            (6) Healthcare providers are increasingly turning to 
        outside collection agencies to help secure payment from 
        patients and this comes at the expense of the consumer because 
        medical debts are not typically reported unless they become 
        assigned to collections.
            (7) In fact, medical bills account for more than half of 
        all non-credit related collection actions reported to consumer 
        credit reporting agencies.
            (8) The issue of medical debt affects millions.
            (9) According to the Commonwealth Fund, medical bill 
        problems or accrued medical debt affects roughly 72,000,000 
        working-age adults in America.
            (10) For 2007, 28,000,000 working-age American adults were 
        contacted by a collection agency for unpaid medical bills.
    (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to exclude from 
consumer credit reports medical debt that had been characterized as 
delinquent, charged off, or debt in collection for credit reporting 
purposes and has been fully paid or settled.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT.

    (a) Medical Debt Defined.--Section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting 
Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a), as amended by section 1088(a)(1) of the Dodd-
Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Public Law 111-
203; 124 Stat. 2086), is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(z) Medical Debt.--The term `medical debt' means a debt described 
in section 604(g)(1)(C).''
    (b) Exclusion for Paid or Settled Medical Debt.--Section 605(a) of 
the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(7) Any information related to a fully paid or settled 
        medical debt that had been characterized as delinquent, charged 
        off, or in collection which, from the date of payment or 
        settlement, antedates the report by more than 45 days.''.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 369

111th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 3421

                          [Report No. 111-629]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To exclude from consumer credit reports medical debt that has been in 
 collection and has been fully paid or settled, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           September 28, 2010

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed