State lawmakers find America’s medical debt problem ‘can no longer be ignored’ – By Dan Goldberg (Politico) / Sept 7, 2023
About 100 million Americans deal with medical debt, late notices, threatening voicemails and credit score declines.
Personal medical debt has reached startling heights — and state lawmakers are taking notice.
In the absence of federal consensus and in anticipation of congressional inaction, state legislators have enacted a variety of consumer protections to mitigate or forestall medical debt. Several more bills are being debated in the coming weeks, expected to be signed later this year and taken up when sessions reconvene in 2024.
The actions — in more than a dozen states — represent a determined, if patchwork, effort to help the roughly 100 million Americans who deal with medical debt, late notices, threatening voicemails and credit score declines. And the bills underscore the difficulty state lawmakers have helping their distressed constituents contend with the ever-increasing costs of health care.
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