Advocates urge the Biden Administration for federal rules to prevent medical debt on credit reports & stop nonprofit hospitals from selling patient debt and denying care.
And the groups are pressing the IRS to crack down on nonprofit hospital systems that withhold financial assistance from low-income patients or make aid cumbersome to get, another common obstacle KHN documented.
While some of the debt appears on credit reports, much of it is hidden elsewhere as credit card balances, loans from relatives, or payment plans to hospitals and other medical providers.The scale of this problem and its toll have spurred several national and state efforts.federal agencies to work on relieving medical debts for veterans and to stop considering medical debt in evaluating eligibility for some federally backed mortgages.
The major credit rating companies, for example, agreed to exclude only debts that have been paid off and unpaid debts of less than $500. Patients with larger medical bills they can't pay may still see their credit scores drop. "We appreciate the challenges, but a broad ban on credit reporting could have some unintended consequences," said Jack Brown III, president of Florida-based Gulf Coast Collection Bureau, citing the prospect of struggling hospitals and other providers closing, which would reduce care options.
Charity care is offered at most U.S. hospitals. And nonprofit medical systems must provide aid as a condition of being tax-exempt. But at many medical centers, information about this assistance is difficult or impossible to find. The groups are asking the IRS to issue rules that would set common standards for charity care and a uniform application across nonprofit hospitals.
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