Third Congressional District Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal, was among a group of lawmakers who sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) last week urging the department to prevent creditors from considering medical debt.
Led by Gluesenkamp Perez and Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-Rhode Island, the group of 57 lawmakers wrote that medical debt is not an accurate predictor of financial wellbeing. According to a news release from Gluesenkamp Perez, diminished credit can impact someone’s ability to buy a house or car, or start a small business.
“People don’t have control over falling ill or becoming injured, so their credit score shouldn’t be tanked for having to take on medical debt. Experiencing a health crisis isn’t an informative measure of financial well-being, nevertheless, the resulting credit impacts put folks’ financial futures at risk,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement. “CFPB’s proposed rule to end unfair debt reporting practices would make life easier for families in Southwest Washington who might already be facing the immense strain of a medical emergency.”
According to the Dec. 6 letter, people face few options when sick, and are typically unable to “shop around for best prices.” The letter also states that in both emergency and scheduled medical care, consumers are “rarely told the costs of medical services in advance.”
“While medical debt currently impacts people’s credit like other debt, people do not have control over whether they get sick or injured and are forced to take on medical debt. In fact, two-thirds of medical debt is the result of a one-time or short-term medical expense arising from an acute medical need,” the lawmakers wrote. “Medical debt is not an accurate predictor of a person’s creditworthiness and should not impact their ability to access credit and build for the future.”
