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Prohibit Credit Reporting Agencies From Taking Medical Debt Into Consideration When Determining an Individual's Credit Score

This petition seeks to exempt medical debt from an individual's credit score, except in cases involving cosmetic and/or voluntary medical procedures.

MEDICAL DEBT IS THE NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF BANKRUPTCY IN AMERICA: It’s time for Congress to ban Credit Reporting Agencies from taking medical debt in to consideration when determining a consumer’s credit score.

FACTS:
• Unpaid medical bills have a terrible impact on an individual’s credit score.
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has found that 43 million American consumers have overdue medical debt on their credit reports, and that 15 million have only medical debt on their credit reports.
• 63% of all Chapter 13 bankruptcies involve medical debt.
• Bankruptcy prevents people from buying a house, buying a car, renting an apartment, and in some cases getting a job.
• Medical debt is often the result of an unexpected accident or illness and completely outside the patient's control.
• Credit reporting companies (Experian, Equifax and Transunion) have testified before Congress that removing medical debt from consideration would not harm the predictive value of consumer credit reports.

Why hasn't Congress acted? It's up to everyday American's to tell our elected officials that we will no longer tolerate corporate greed over human needs. Real change happens from the bottom up, not the other way around. If politicians want to continue receiving millions of dollars in lobbying money from pharmaceutical and health insurance companies, instead of protecting the interests of their Constituents, then it's time for us to vote them out. We must stand up for ourselves. Losing everything should not be the price we pay for having our healthcare needs met. 2020 here we come!

Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Switzerland all provide healthcare to their citizens, without a single person needing to declare bankruptcy as a result. The United States can do better, if everyday citizens take action.