Comments are currently being accepted regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rule that would prohibit creditors from using medical debts when determining whether a consumer is eligible for credit. The comment period is open until August 12. To help those who might be interested in filing a comment, and to provide insight into the tone of the comments being filed, AccountsRecovery.net is sharing some of those comments here. To date, 77 comments have been filed.
Total Recovery Service
As a Debt Collection Agency, I have been forced to increase our number of lawsuits in order to force consumers to pay. In the last 12 months we have increased our number of lawsuits filed a month over 400% in order to recover the loss in revenue from said changes. That number is expected to double again in the next 12 months. We have had to double our staff to accommodate these changes which is a massive expense. Its the same scenario as the doctors, give the consumer less reasons to pay, the fewer are going to pay. Again, that increase in costs from litigating is passed on to the consumer. The consumers are the ones actually suffering. Because of the current credit reporting changes, not only are we now being forced to sue consumers for the debt to get them to pay, but then they owe much more. They then owe contractual fees, attorneys fees, and court costs on top of the original debt. If that is the only option we have to make the consumers pay, how is that helping the consumer? Collection agency’s ability to collect the debt through normal means is a time of the past. By taking away the ability to report medical debt to the credit bureaus there will be no incentive for patients to smaller balances.
Total Recovery Service, June 19, 2024. Click here for full comment.
Fair Capital
Firstly, this policy would significantly impact the healthcare industry. Small medical practices and dental offices, essential for our well-being, would be forced to demand full payment upfront for non-emergency cases. This is not theoretical; it is already happening in New York, as observed by Fair Capital, a leading debt collection agency. Without the ability to report medical debt, debt collectors become less effective, forcing healthcare providers to demand upfront payments. Consequently, many individuals, especially those in lower-income brackets, could be denied medical care because they cannot pay in advance.
Fair Capital, June 30, 2024. Click here for full comment.
Anonymous
I recommend nationalizing the healthcare industry, a one payer system, a social system, a system that is for the people not a corporation maximizing profits. What America has is not working and costs too much. Insurance companies, Hospitals, and doctors all getting rich at someone’s misfortune. Sure people can take better care of themselves and make healthy choices, but look at the food industry pushing sugar and processed foods. We need more socialism to balance out the capitalists who rig the healthcare system to make profit. We must have a National Health Care System now.”
Anonymous, July 1, 2024
Shawn Loos
Husband had double lung transplant from NSIP which the cause is unknown. We have had so much debt from last ten years even with insurance. And have debt sitting on our credit reports. Which is so unfair. In our mid 50’s. Both worked our entire likes and pay a lot for medical insurance. Current living with our daughter because we can’t afford to live alone right now.”
Shawn Loos, June 24, 2024
Bradley Cohn
I am a consumer and my hospital for some reason cannot submit our bills to insurance. Every time we visit, we give them the insurance card and 30 days later we get a bill that says we are self pay. We call the hospital and they the place the bill “on hold” for 30 days while they resubmit the bill to insurance. We are diligent in following up with billing to see when things get processed. Because it takes longer then 30 days for the insurance to pay, they send us to collections. They don’t send new bills showing what we owe, or picking up the phone and reaching out to us, or sending an email, they send it to collections. All starts with the hospital not trying to bill our insurance company from the start and we end up in collections. Never miss any of our creditor payments, no dings on our credit report but yet the mishandling of medical bills by the provider end us up in collections.
Bradley Cohn, July 3, 2024
Emergency Medical Associates
As President of Emergency Medicine Associates, PC, serving at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center (PHSW) in Vancouver, WA, I am intimately aware of the complexities of providing top-tier emergency medical care in our region. PHSW stands as a crucial institution in southwest Washington, and we are southwest Washington’s only certified center for strokes, heart attacks, and trauma. …
The consequences of credit reporting measures, which we employ only sparingly, remains an essential recourse for our practice. It is primarily employed to address cases where individuals are capable but unwilling to settle their medical dues. Patients who are able to pay their medical bills but choose not to place undue financial burden on the healthcare system as a whole. Adverse credit reporting provides one of the few guardrails in our economy that ensure fair and equitable compensation to professionals as they conduct their business. Removing this option could lead to significant financial challenges for EMA and other medical practices in southwest Washington, with ripple effects on the quality of care we can provide.
Joshua Hurwitz, MD, July 6, 2024. Click here for full comment.
