Consumer Reports applauds Bureau for issuing guidance to curb double-billing, excessive charges and other predatory debt collection practices
WASHINGTON – Consumer Reports applauded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today for issuing guidance aimed at protecting consumers from illegal medical debt collection practices. The CFPB’s guidance makes clear that debt collectors are violating the law when they attempt to collect on debt that has already been paid, harass consumers to pay inflated charges, misrepresent consumers’ rights, and don’t have the documentation to prove a debt is actually owed. The CFPB also issued a consumer advisory to help people understand their rights when it comes to inaccurate medical bill charges.
“Consumers are sick and tired of being targeted by overly aggressive medical debt collectors who sometimes seek payment for inaccurate charges and bills that have already been paid by insurance,” said Chuck Bell, advocacy program director for Consumer Reports. “Today’s announcement by the CFPB puts debt collectors on notice that they should only be collecting for medical bills that are accurate, substantiated and properly owed. These common-sense protections will help ensure patients and their families are treated fairly and have greater peace of mind that they won’t be targeted for excessive debts they don’t even owe.”
According to the CFPB, approximately 100 million Americans owe over $200 billion in medical debt. Medical billing is both confusing and often filled with errors. Patients often receive multiple bills and insurance forms for the same visit, which are hard to decipher and interpret, especially for non-native speakers. Consumers sometimes are billed for health care services they don’t owe, have already been paid, or that should have been covered by their insurance or government or hospital financial assistance programs.
Providers and insurers often go back and forth over whether a particular treatment or service is covered and the patient is caught in the middle. Frequently, providers go ahead and send bills to collections even when they are still arguing with the insurance company over whether the service is covered.
The CFPB is considering a proposal it announced earlier this year that would ban the listing of medical debt on credit reports. Consumer Reports has urged the CFPB to adopt the ban since research has shown that medical debt is not a good indicator of a person’s creditworthiness.
Michael McCauley, michael.mccauley@consumer.org