II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4037 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to protect the credit of patients 

with substantial medical bills. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 23, 2020 

Mrs. LOEFFLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to protect the 

credit of patients with substantial medical bills. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Patient Credit Protec5 tion Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CREDIT PROTECTION FOR PATIENTS. 

7 (a) INFORMATION EXCLUDED FROM CONSUMER RE8 PORTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 605(a) of the Fair 

2 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is 

3 amended by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(9) Debts incurred in a collection account with 

5 a medical industry code if, based on information fur6 nished by the provider of medical treatment— 

7 ‘‘(A) the consumer was covered by a health 

8 benefit plan at the time of the event giving rise 

9 to the collection; and 

10 ‘‘(B) the collection is for an outstanding 

11 balance after the consumer’s share of copay12 ments, deductibles, and coinsurance owed for 

13 medical treatment have been paid or are being 

14 paid as part of a payment plan. 

15 ‘‘(10) Debts incurred by a consumer for pay16 ment for unconscionably excessive medical expenses 

17 for health care items and services furnished at a 

18 participating hospital (as defined in section 

19 1867(e)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

20 1395dd(e)(2)))— 

21 ‘‘(A) without the express written consent 

22 of the provider of the health care items and 

23 services; and 

24 ‘‘(B) without providing a fair opportunity 

25 for the consumer to challenge or appeal, as deVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4037.IS S4037

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1 fined by the Secretary of Health and Human 

2 Services, the cost of the medical bill or bills for 

3 such health care items and services as uncon4 scionably excessive in the relevant, private 

5 health care market (including in the individual 

6 and group markets) and prevent such reporting 

7 for costs to a consumer reporting agency by the 

8 collector of the debt that the Secretary deter9 mines are unconscionably excessive in the rel10 evant, private health care market in accordance 

11 with guidance issued by the Secretary pursuant 

12 to section 2(a)(2) of the Patient Credit Protec13 tion Act of 2020.’’. 

14 (2) GUIDANCE.— 

15 (A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 

16 (i) the terms ‘‘consumer’’, ‘‘consumer 

17 report’’, ‘‘consumer reporting agency’’, and 

18 ‘‘Federal banking agency’’ have the mean19 ings given those terms in section 603 of 

20 the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 

21 1681a); 

22 (ii) the term ‘‘participating hospital’’ 

23 has the meaning given the term in section 

24 1867(e)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 

25 U.S.C. 1395dd(e)(2)); and 


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1 (iii) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the 

2 Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

3 (B) ISSUANCE.—Not later than 180 days 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec5 retary, in consultation with the Director of the 

6 Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the 

7 Federal Trade Commission, the Federal bank8 ing agencies, and the National Credit Union 

9 Administration, shall issue guidance to carry 

10 out paragraph (10) of section 605(a) of the 

11 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 

12 1681c(a)), as added by paragraph (1). 

13 (C) CONTENTS.—The guidance issued 

14 under subparagraph (B) shall provide— 

15 (i) the circumstances under which a 

16 consumer with an outstanding balance for 

17 copayments, deductibles, coinsurance, or 

18 other medical expenses for health care 

19 items or services furnished at a partici20 pating hospital may, before the collector of 

21 the debt reports that balance to a con22 sumer reporting agency, challenge or ap23 peal the cost of the medical bill or bills for 

24 those health care items and services as un25 conscionably excessive in the relevant, priVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4037.IS S4037

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1 vate health care market, including in the 

2 individual and group markets; 

3 (ii) that the determination of whether 

4 the costs described in clause (i) are uncon5 scionably excessive shall be by the Sec6 retary made by taking into consideration 

7 information made public by hospitals pur8 suant to part 180 of title 45, Code of Fed9 eral Regulations, or any successor regula10 tion; 

11 (iii) a framework for timely resolution 

12 if the costs described in clause (i) are de13 termined to be unconscionably excessive; 

14 (iv) that in no case shall a consumer 

15 reporting agency be held liable for report16 ing information that violates paragraph 

17 (10) of section 605(a) of the Fair Credit 

18 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)), as 

19 added by paragraph (1), if they were not 

20 furnished with necessary information or 

21 did not have reason to know of such a vio22 lation; and 

23 (v) that debts incurred by a consumer 

24 for payment for unconscionably excessive 

25 medical expenses in the process to chalVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4037.IS S4037

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1 lenge or appeal the cost of the medical bill 

2 or bills described in clause (i) shall not be 

3 reported to a consumer reporting agency 

4 until after a determination of the challenge 

5 or appeal has been made, including if the 

6 process keeps medical debt from being re7 ported to a consumer reporting agency be8 yond the a 180-day waiting period before 

9 including medical debt on a consumer’s 

10 credit report, at which time if the medical 

11 debt is determined to not be unconscion12 ably excessive, the debt shall be imme13 diately made available to the consumer re14 porting agency. 

15 (D) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

16 this paragraph shall be interpreted to allow the 

17 Secretary to institute a price structure for the 

18 reimbursement of medical costs. 

19 (b) REMOVAL OF IMPAIRMENT FROM MEDICAL

20 DEBT.—Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

21 U.S.C. 1681i) is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(h) REMOVAL OF IMPAIRMENT FROM MEDICAL

24 DEBT.—When notified that a debt incurred by an indi25 vidual for payment for medical expenses has been paid in 


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1 full or that such an individual is in regular compliance 

2 with a periodic payment plan between the provider and 

3 consumer to settle such debt, any impairment resulting 

4 from that debt must be removed within 30 days.’’. 

Æ 


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