Title: Patient Credit Protection Act of 2020
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
Patient Credit Protection Act of 2020
This bill prohibits credit reporting agencies from including certain medical debt on a credit report if (1) the consumer was covered by a health insurance plan at the time of the medical event; and (2) the consumer has paid, or is paying as part of a payment plan, the consumer's share of copayments, deductibles, and coinsurance.
Credit reporting agencies are also prohibited from reporting certain debts incurred for unconscionably excessive medical expenses for health care items and services furnished at a hospital participating in Medicare.
The bill also provides for the removal from a credit report of an impairment resulting from a medical debt within 30 days of notification that the consumer (1) has paid in full, or (2) is in regular compliance with a payment plan.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4037 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Patient Credit Protection Act of 
2020''.

SEC. 2. CREDIT PROTECTION FOR PATIENTS.

    (a) Information Excluded From Consumer Reports.--
            (1) In general.--Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit 
        Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by adding at the 
        end the following:
            ``(9) Debts incurred in a collection account with a medical 
        industry code if, based on information furnished by the 
        provider of medical treatment--
                    ``(A) the consumer was covered by a health benefit 
                plan at the time of the event giving rise to the 
                collection; and
                    ``(B) the collection is for an outstanding balance 
                after the consumer's share of copayments, deductibles, 
                and coinsurance owed for medical treatment have been 
                paid or are being paid as part of a payment plan.
            ``(10) Debts incurred by a consumer for payment for 
        unconscionably excessive medical expenses for health care items 
        and services furnished at a participating hospital (as defined 
        in section 1867(e)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
        1395dd(e)(2)))--
                    ``(A) without the express written consent of the 
                provider of the health care items and services; and
                    ``(B) without providing a fair opportunity for the 
                consumer to challenge or appeal, as defined by the 
                Secretary of Health and Human Services, the cost of the 
                medical bill or bills for such health care items and 
                services as unconscionably excessive in the relevant, 
                private health care market (including in the individual 
                and group markets) and prevent such reporting for costs 
                to a consumer reporting agency by the collector of the 
                debt that the Secretary determines are unconscionably 
                excessive in the relevant, private health care market 
                in accordance with guidance issued by the Secretary 
                pursuant to section 2(a)(2) of the Patient Credit 
                Protection Act of 2020.''.
            (2) Guidance.--
                    (A) Definitions.--In this paragraph--
                            (i) the terms ``consumer'', ``consumer 
                        report'', ``consumer reporting agency'', and 
                        ``Federal banking agency'' have the meanings 
                        given those terms in section 603 of the Fair 
                        Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a);
                            (ii) the term ``participating hospital'' 
                        has the meaning given the term in section 
                        1867(e)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 
                        U.S.C. 1395dd(e)(2)); and
                            (iii) the term ``Secretary'' means the 
                        Secretary of Health and Human Services.
                    (B) Issuance.--Not later than 180 days after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in 
                consultation with the Director of the Bureau of 
                Consumer Financial Protection, the Federal Trade 
                Commission, the Federal banking agencies, and the 
                National Credit Union Administration, shall issue 
                guidance to carry out paragraph (10) of section 605(a) 
                of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)), 
                as added by paragraph (1).
                    (C) Contents.--The guidance issued under 
                subparagraph (B) shall provide--
                            (i) the circumstances under which a 
                        consumer with an outstanding balance for 
                        copayments, deductibles, coinsurance, or other 
                        medical expenses for health care items or 
                        services furnished at a participating hospital 
                        may, before the collector of the debt reports 
                        that balance to a consumer reporting agency, 
                        challenge or appeal the cost of the medical 
                        bill or bills for those health care items and 
                        services as unconscionably excessive in the 
                        relevant, private health care market, including 
                        in the individual and group markets;
                            (ii) that the determination of whether the 
                        costs described in clause (i) are 
                        unconscionably excessive shall be by the 
                        Secretary made by taking into consideration 
                        information made public by hospitals pursuant 
                        to part 180 of title 45, Code of Federal 
                        Regulations, or any successor regulation;
                            (iii) a framework for timely resolution if 
                        the costs described in clause (i) are 
                        determined to be unconscionably excessive;
                            (iv) that in no case shall a consumer 
                        reporting agency be held liable for reporting 
                        information that violates paragraph (10) of 
                        section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 
                        (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)), as added by paragraph 
                        (1), if they were not furnished with necessary 
                        information or did not have reason to know of 
                        such a violation; and
                            (v) that debts incurred by a consumer for 
                        payment for unconscionably excessive medical 
                        expenses in the process to challenge or appeal 
                        the cost of the medical bill or bills described 
                        in clause (i) shall not be reported to a 
                        consumer reporting agency until after a 
                        determination of the challenge or appeal has 
                        been made, including if the process keeps 
                        medical debt from being reported to a consumer 
                        reporting agency beyond the a 180-day waiting 
                        period before including medical debt on a 
                        consumer's credit report, at which time if the 
                        medical debt is determined to not be 
                        unconscionably excessive, the debt shall be 
                        immediately made available to the consumer 
                        reporting agency.
                    (D) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this 
                paragraph shall be interpreted to allow the Secretary 
                to institute a price structure for the reimbursement of 
                medical costs.
    (b) Removal of Impairment From Medical Debt.--Section 611 of the 
Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i) is amended by adding at the 
end the following:
    ``(h) Removal of Impairment From Medical Debt.--When notified that 
a debt incurred by an individual for payment for medical expenses has 
been paid in full or that such an individual is in regular compliance 
with a periodic payment plan between the provider and consumer to 
settle such debt, any impairment resulting from that debt must be 
removed within 30 days.''.
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