Patient Credit Protection Act of 2020

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. 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 ‘‘Patient Credit Protec- 4 tion Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. CREDIT PROTECTION FOR PATIENTS. 6 (a) INFORMATION EXCLUDED FROM CONSUMER RE- 7 PORTS.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4037.IS S4037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4037 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 605(a) of the Fair 1 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is 2 amended by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(9) Debts incurred in a collection account with 4 a medical industry code if, based on information fur- 5 nished by the provider of medical treatment— 6 ‘‘(A) the consumer was covered by a health 7 benefit plan at the time of the event giving rise 8 to the collection; and 9 ‘‘(B) the collection is for an outstanding 10 balance after the consumer’s share of copay- 11 ments, deductibles, and coinsurance owed for 12 medical treatment have been paid or are being 13 paid as part of a payment plan. 14 ‘‘(10) Debts incurred by a consumer for pay- 15 ment for unconscionably excessive medical expenses 16 for health care items and services furnished at a 17 participating hospital (as defined in section 18 1867(e)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 19 1395dd(e)(2)))— 20 ‘‘(A) without the express written consent 21 of the provider of the health care items and 22 services; and 23 ‘‘(B) without providing a fair opportunity 24 for the consumer to challenge or appeal, as de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4037.IS S4037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4037 IS fined by the Secretary of Health and Human 1 Services, the cost of the medical bill or bills for 2 such health care items and services as uncon- 3 scionably excessive in the relevant, private 4 health care market (including in the individual 5 and group markets) and prevent such reporting 6 for costs to a consumer reporting agency by the 7 collector of the debt that the Secretary deter- 8 mines are unconscionably excessive in the rel- 9 evant, private health care market in accordance 10 with guidance issued by the Secretary pursuant 11 to section 2(a)(2) of the Patient Credit Protec- 12 tion Act of 2020.’’. 13 (2) GUIDANCE.— 14 (A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 15 (i) the terms ‘‘consumer’’, ‘‘consumer 16 report’’, ‘‘consumer reporting agency’’, and 17 ‘‘Federal banking agency’’ have the mean- 18 ings given those terms in section 603 of 19 the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 20 1681a); 21 (ii) the term ‘‘participating hospital’’ 22 has the meaning given the term in section 23 1867(e)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 24 U.S.C. 1395dd(e)(2)); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4037.IS S4037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4037 IS (iii) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the 1 Secretary of Health and Human Services. 2 (B) ISSUANCE.—Not later than 180 days 3 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 4 retary, in consultation with the Director of the 5 Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the 6 Federal Trade Commission, the Federal bank- 7 ing agencies, and the National Credit Union 8 Administration, shall issue guidance to carry 9 out paragraph (10) of section 605(a) of the 10 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 11 1681c(a)), as added by paragraph (1). 12 (C) CONTENTS.—The guidance issued 13 under subparagraph (B) shall provide— 14 (i) the circumstances under which a 15 consumer with an outstanding balance for 16 copayments, deductibles, coinsurance, or 17 other medical expenses for health care 18 items or services furnished at a partici- 19 pating hospital may, before the collector of 20 the debt reports that balance to a con- 21 sumer reporting agency, challenge or ap- 22 peal the cost of the medical bill or bills for 23 those health care items and services as un- 24 conscionably excessive in the relevant, pri- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4037.IS S4037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4037 IS vate health care market, including in the 1 individual and group markets; 2 (ii) that the determination of whether 3 the costs described in clause (i) are uncon- 4 scionably excessive shall be by the Sec- 5 retary made by taking into consideration 6 information made public by hospitals pur- 7 suant to part 180 of title 45, Code of Fed- 8 eral Regulations, or any successor regula- 9 tion; 10 (iii) a framework for timely resolution 11 if the costs described in clause (i) are de- 12 termined to be unconscionably excessive; 13 (iv) that in no case shall a consumer 14 reporting agency be held liable for report- 15 ing information that violates paragraph 16 (10) of section 605(a) of the Fair Credit 17 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)), as 18 added by paragraph (1), if they were not 19 furnished with necessary information or 20 did not have reason to know of such a vio- 21 lation; and 22 (v) that debts incurred by a consumer 23 for payment for unconscionably excessive 24 medical expenses in the process to chal- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4037.IS S4037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4037 IS lenge or appeal the cost of the medical bill 1 or bills described in clause (i) shall not be 2 reported to a consumer reporting agency 3 until after a determination of the challenge 4 or appeal has been made, including if the 5 process keeps medical debt from being re- 6 ported to a consumer reporting agency be- 7 yond the a 180-day waiting period before 8 including medical debt on a consumer’s 9 credit report, at which time if the medical 10 debt is determined to not be unconscion- 11 ably excessive, the debt shall be imme- 12 diately made available to the consumer re- 13 porting agency. 14 (D) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 15 this paragraph shall be interpreted to allow the 16 Secretary to institute a price structure for the 17 reimbursement of medical costs. 18 (b) REMOVAL OF IMPAIRMENT FROM MEDICAL 19 DEBT.—Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 20 U.S.C. 1681i) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 21 lowing: 22 ‘‘(h) REMOVAL OF IMPAIRMENT FROM MEDICAL 23 DEBT.—When notified that a debt incurred by an indi- 24 vidual for payment for medical expenses has been paid in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4037.IS S4037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4037 IS full or that such an individual is in regular compliance 1 with a periodic payment plan between the provider and 2 consumer to settle such debt, any impairment resulting 3 from that debt must be removed within 30 days.’’. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4037.IS S4037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS