I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2086 
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 
JUNE 2, 2011 
Mr. SHULER (for himself, Mr. MANZULLO, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, and Mr. HALL) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Fi-
nancial Services, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medical Debt Respon-
sibility Act of 2011’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Medical debt is unique, and Americans do 
not choose when accidents happen or when illness 
strikes. 
(2) Medical debt collection issues affect both in-
sured and uninsured consumers. 
(3) According to credit evaluators, medical debt 
collections are more likely to be in dispute, inconsist-
ently reported, and of questionable value in pre-
dicting future payment performance because it is 
atypical and nonpredictive. 
(4) Nevertheless, medical debt that has been 
completely paid off or settled can significantly dam-
age 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 credit. 
(6) Healthcare providers are increasingly turn-
ing to outside collection agencies to help secure pay-
ment 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 collection actions reported to consumer 
credit reporting agencies. 
(8) The issue of medical debt affects millions. 
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(9) According to the Commonwealth Fund, 
medical bill problems or accrued medical debt affects 
73,000,000 working-age adults in America. 
(10) For 2010, 30,000,000 working-age Amer-
ican adults were contacted by a collection agency for 
unpaid medical bills. 
(b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to ex-
clude 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) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(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 single fully 
paid or settled medical debt in an amount of $2,500 
or less that had been characterized as delinquent, 
charged off, or in collection which, from the date of 
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payment or settlement, antedates the report by more 
than 45 days.’’. 
SEC. 4. PAYGO BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 
shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 
titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 
Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 
by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro-
vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 
vote on passage. 
Æ 
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