Medical Debt Relief Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1581 To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to institute a 1-year waiting period before medical debt will be reported on a consumer’s credit report and to remove paid-off and settled medical debts from credit reports that have been fully paid or settled, to amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to provide a timetable for verification of medical debt and to increase the efficiency of credit markets with more perfect infor- mation, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 21, 2019 Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. WARREN, Mr. MENEN- DEZ, and Mr. DURBIN) 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 institute a 1- year waiting period before medical debt will be reported on a consumer’s credit report and to remove paid-off and settled medical debts from credit reports that have been fully paid or settled, to amend the Fair Debt Collec- tion Practices Act to provide a timetable for verification of medical debt and to increase the efficiency of credit markets with more perfect information, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S1581.IS S1581 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1581 IS Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medical Debt Relief 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT. 6 (a) MEDICAL DEBT DEFINED.—Section 603 of the 7 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended 8 by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(bb) MEDICAL DEBT.—The term ‘medical debt’ 10 means a debt described in section 604(g)(1)(C).’’. 11 (b) EXCLUSION FOR PAID OR SETTLED MEDICAL 12 DEBT.—Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 13 (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by adding at the end 14 the following: 15 ‘‘(9) Any information relating to a medical debt if 16 the date on which the debt was placed for collection, 17 charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action 18 antedates the report by less than 1 year. 19 ‘‘(10) Any information relating to a fully paid or set- 20 tled medical debt that had been characterized as delin- 21 quent, charged off, or in collection which, from the date 22 of payment or settlement, antedates the report by more 23 than 45 days.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1581.IS S1581 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1581 IS SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION 1 PRACTICES ACT. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 809 of the Fair Debt Col- 3 lection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692g) is amended by 4 adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(f) ADDITIONAL NOTICE REQUIREMENTS FOR MED- 6 ICAL DEBT.— 7 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 8 ‘‘(A) CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY.— 9 The term ‘consumer reporting agency’ has the 10 meaning given the term in section 603(f) of the 11 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 12 1681a(f)). 13 ‘‘(B) MEDICAL DEBT.—The term ‘medical 14 debt’ means a debt arising from the receipt of 15 medical services, products, or devices. 16 ‘‘(2) NOTICE ABOUT CREDIT REPORTING.—Be- 17 fore furnishing information regarding a medical debt 18 of a consumer to a consumer reporting agency, the 19 person furnishing the information shall send a state- 20 ment to the consumer that includes the following: 21 ‘‘(A) A notification that the medical debt 22 may not be reported to a consumer reporting 23 agency until the end of the 1-year period begin- 24 ning on the date on which the person sends the 25 statement. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1581.IS S1581 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1581 IS ‘‘(B) The specific date that is the end of 1 the 1-year period beginning on the date on 2 which the person sends the statement. 3 ‘‘(C) A notification that, if the debt is set- 4 tled or paid by the consumer or an insurance 5 company during the 1-year period beginning on 6 the date on which the person sends the state- 7 ment— 8 ‘‘(i) the debt may not be reported to 9 a consumer reporting agency; and 10 ‘‘(ii) the consumer may, during that 11 1-year period— 12 ‘‘(I) communicate with an insur- 13 ance company to determine coverage 14 for the debt; or 15 ‘‘(II) apply for financial assist- 16 ance. 17 ‘‘(3) NO REPORTING DURING 1-YEAR PERIOD.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—During the 1-year pe- 19 riod described in paragraph (2), no person may 20 communicate with, or report any information 21 to, any consumer reporting agency regarding a 22 debt described in that paragraph. 23 ‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 24 in subparagraph (A) may be construed to affect 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1581.IS S1581 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1581 IS when a debt collector may engage in activities 1 to collect or attempt to collect any debt owed or 2 due or asserted to be owed. 3 ‘‘(4) REPORTING AFTER THE 1-YEAR PERIOD.— 4 Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a person 5 from communicating with, or reporting any informa- 6 tion to, a consumer reporting agency regarding a 7 medical debt of a consumer after the end of the 1- 8 year period described in paragraph (2) with respect 9 to the debt.’’. 10 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 11 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 12 on the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment 13 of this Act. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1581.IS S1581 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS