One of the first bills from this 海角换妻 legislative session to get signed into law prohibits the reporting of medical debt to credit agencies.
bars health care providers and hospitals from reporting medical debt, a move which can hurt a person鈥檚 credit score.
Gov. Ned Lamont last Thursday, a day after the end of the 2024 legislative session.
鈥淲hen medical debt is included in a person鈥檚 credit report, creditors are making decisions based on a person鈥檚 medical history that is not necessarily representative of their financial responsibility and household finances,鈥� Lamont, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Hundreds of thousands of state residents . State Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, spearheaded the bill, and called it some of the 鈥渟trongest consumer protections in the country.鈥�
The measure also prevents other kinds of medical debt collection, such as wage withholdings and voids any medical debt that is reported to credit rating agencies.
Across the U.S., medical debt collections , according to the National Consumer Law Center.
Reporting medical debt also feeds into a cycle of economic and health inequities, according to Gretchen Shugarts with the legislature鈥檚 Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health. Concern for medical bills is one of the reasons people avoid or delay health care, she said.
鈥淏y the time they actually get in to see someone, that whatever condition could go from being a very minor thing that could have been treated early on, becomes this huge expense,鈥� Shugarts said.
More needs to be done in the state to lower the cost of health care in general, she said.
Kally Moquete, with Health Equity Solutions, said health care is a human right everyone should be entitled to.
鈥淢edical burden affects everyone. But when you look at those with poor health outcomes in the state of 海角换妻, that鈥檚 our Black and Brown communities,鈥� Moquete said. 鈥淭his legislation was one step getting us forward in the right direction to ensure that we're protecting our individuals.鈥�
The law officially goes into effect on July 1.
