South Dakota is among the states with the highest percentage of residents carrying medical debt but a new federal rule announced this week could ease some of the pressure when they apply for loans.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized a rule stating credit agencies cannot share a person’s medical debt history with a lending institution requesting credit information.
The only debt details that can be relayed to determine a person’s creditworthiness are mortgages, car loans, credit cards and similar activity.
Patricia Kelmar, senior director of health care campaigns for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said groups like hers had long pushed for this move.
Medical debt under new rule
“Medical debt is not really indicative of somebody’s ability or desire to pay back a loan,” Kelmar pointed out. “Oftentimes people are in a situation where they get a bad medical diagnosis, or they’ve been in a car accident. Suddenly they have a lot of medical bills.”
According to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, nearly 18% of South Dakota adults report having medical debt. The national average is 8%. Some credit agencies already exclude medical debt in loan situations.
Kelmar acknowledged the incoming Trump administration could seek to reverse this rule change, as some advisers have said they want to do away with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau altogether.
Pushback is also expected from debt collection firms. Kelmar emphasized skeptics should know keeping medical debt out of the equation is good for the overall economy.
“The long arm of medical debt can really hurt people’s financial future and their ability to get better,” Kelmar contended.
For example, she noted a person emerging from a medical scare might need a new car to rejoin the workforce but the sudden health care debt they incurred might get in the way. The new rule will be effective 60 days after it’s published in the Federal Register.
