So the Trump administration paused all new regulations, and now medical debt reforms are on hold. The CFPB rule was supposed to protect people from predatory debt collectors and remove medical debt from credit reports. But now, with the new treasury secretary stopping all new regulations, things are uncertain again. Anyone else following this?
Yeah, it’s messed up. 46 million Americans had medical debt on their credit reports in 2020, and this rule was supposed to help fix that.
Hadi said:
Yeah, it’s messed up. 46 million Americans had medical debt on their credit reports in 2020, and this rule was supposed to help fix that.
Right? A bad credit score from medical debt can stop people from getting loans, housing, even jobs.
So does this mean debt collectors can keep reporting medical debt?
Ren said:
So does this mean debt collectors can keep reporting medical debt?
Yeah, since the rule was delayed, debt collectors can still report it. The industry group ACA International even lobbied to stop the reforms.
@Zora
Wow, they really fought to keep profiting off medical debt?
Honestly, the real problem is the cost of healthcare in the US. Medical debt wouldn’t be such an issue if healthcare wasn’t so expensive.
Lyle said:
Honestly, the real problem is the cost of healthcare in the US. Medical debt wouldn’t be such an issue if healthcare wasn’t so expensive.
Yeah, Rob Weissman said the issue isn’t just medical debt, but the whole healthcare system being corporatized.
And then there’s upcoding… some hospitals charge for more expensive procedures than what patients actually got. That rule was also put on hold.
Parker said:
And then there’s upcoding… some hospitals charge for more expensive procedures than what patients actually got. That rule was also put on hold.
Wait, upcoding? What’s that?
@Vin
It’s when hospitals bill patients for a more complex (and expensive) procedure than what they actually received. It’s super common.
And Musk is involved in this too? He’s trying to get access to federal payment systems and even said he’d delete the CFPB.
Chase said:
And Musk is involved in this too? He’s trying to get access to federal payment systems and even said he’d delete the CFPB.
Yep, it’s all part of the broader shake-up. No idea what happens next.