IB 

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. VELA ́ZQUEZ, 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. LUJA ́N, 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, 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS
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•HR 3421 RH

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. SA ́NCHEZ 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. 


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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 ‘‘Medical Debt Relief 

5 Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Medical debt is unique because, unlike con9 sumer debt, Americans don’t get to choose when ac10 cidents happen or when their genetic traits will catch 

11 up to their health profile. 

12 (2) Medical debt collection issues affect both in13 sured and uninsured consumers. 

14 (3) According to credit evaluators, medical debt 

15 collections are more likely to be in dispute, inconsist16 ently reported, and of questionable value in pre17 dicting future payment performance because it is 

18 atypical and nonpredictive. 

19 (4) Nevertheless, medical debt that has been 

20 completely paid off or settled can significantly dam21 age a consumer’s credit score for years. 

22 (5) As a result, consumers can be denied credit 

23 or pay higher interest rates when buying a home or 

24 obtaining a credit card. 


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•HR 3421 RH

1 (6) Healthcare providers are increasingly turn2 ing to outside collection agencies to help secure pay3 ment from patients and this comes at the expense of 

4 the consumer because medical debts are not typically 

5 reported unless they become assigned to collections. 

6 (7) In fact, medical bills account for more than 

7 half of all non-credit related collection actions re8 ported to consumer credit reporting agencies. 

9 (8) The issue of medical debt affects millions. 

10 (9) According to the Commonwealth Fund, 

11 medical bill problems or accrued medical debt affects 

12 roughly 72,000,000 working-age adults in American. 

13 (10) For 2007, 28,000,000 working-age Amer14 ican adults were contacted by a collection agency for 

15 unpaid medical bills. 

16 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to ex17 clude from consumer credit reports medical debt that had 

18 been characterized as debt in collection for credit reporting 

19 purposes and has been fully paid or settled. 

20 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT. 

21 (a) MEDICAL DEBT DEFINED.—Section 603 of the 

22 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended 

23 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(y) MEDICAL DEBT.—The term ‘medical debt’ 

25 means a debt described in section 604(g)(1)(C).’’ 


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1 (b) EXCLUSION FOR PAID OR SETTLED MEDICAL

2 DEBT.—Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 

3 (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(7) Any information related to a fully paid or 

6 settled medical debt that had been characterized as 

7 debt in collection for credit reporting purposes, 

8 which, from the date of payment or settlement, ante9 dates the report by more than 30 calendar days.’’. 

10 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

11 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medical Debt Relief Act 

12 of 2010’’. 

13 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

14 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 

15 (1) Medical debt is unique, and Americans do 

16 not choose when accidents happen or when illness 

17 strikes. 

18 (2) Medical debt collection issues affect both in19 sured and uninsured consumers. 

20 (3) According to credit evaluators, medical debt 

21 collections are more likely to be in dispute, inconsist22 ently reported, and of questionable value in pre23 dicting future payment performance because it is 

24 atypical and nonpredictive. 


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1 (4) Nevertheless, medical debt that has been com2 pletely paid off or settled can significantly damage a 

3 consumer’s credit score for years. 

4 (5) As a result, consumers can be denied credit 

5 or pay higher interest rates when buying a home or 

6 obtaining a credit card. 

7 (6) Healthcare providers are increasingly turn8 ing to outside collection agencies to help secure pay9 ment from patients and this comes at the expense of 

10 the consumer because medical debts are not typically 

11 reported unless they become assigned to collections. 

12 (7) In fact, medical bills account for more than 

13 half of all non-credit related collection actions re14 ported to consumer credit reporting agencies. 

15 (8) The issue of medical debt affects millions. 

16 (9) According to the Commonwealth Fund, med17 ical bill problems or accrued medical debt affects 

18 roughly 72,000,000 working-age adults in America. 

19 (10) For 2007, 28,000,000 working-age American 

20 adults were contacted by a collection agency for un21 paid medical bills. 

22 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to exclude 

23 from consumer credit reports medical debt that had been 

24 characterized as delinquent, charged off, or debt in collecVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:33 Sep 28, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3421.RH H3421

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1 tion for credit reporting purposes and has been fully paid 

2 or settled. 

3 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT. 

4 (a) MEDICAL DEBT DEFINED.—Section 603 of the 

5 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a), as amended 

6 by section 1088(a)(1) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Re7 form and Consumer Protection Act (Public Law 111–203; 

8 124 Stat. 2086), is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(z) MEDICAL DEBT.—The term ‘medical debt’ means 

11 a debt described in section 604(g)(1)(C).’’ 

12 (b) EXCLUSION FOR PAID OR SETTLED MEDICAL

13 DEBT.—Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 

14 (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 

15 following new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(7) Any information related to a fully paid or 

17 settled medical debt that had been characterized as de18 linquent, charged off, or in collection which, from the 

19 date of payment or settlement, antedates the report by 

20 more than 45 days.’’. 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 369 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3421 

[Report No. 111–629] 

A BILL 

To exclude from consumer credit reports medical 

fully paid or settled, and for other purposes. debt that has been in collection and has been 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010 

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


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS