On April 11, 2023, the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — announced that unpaid medical collections with balances of $500 or less would no longer appear on consumer credit reports. Nearly 70% of medical debt sent to collections is less than $500. About 2/3 of medical debts are the result of acute medical conditions that are not likely to recur, and many result from delays by insurance companies and benefit providers in processing claims, making the relationship of unpaid medical bills to creditworthiness questionable. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, $88 billion of outstanding medical bills are in collections, affecting 1 in 5Americans. As of June 2021, 58% of debts in collection are medical bills.
In 2022, the credit bureaus removed all medical collection debt that had been paid by the consumer in full, regardless of amount. Additionally, the time period before unpaid medical collection debt appears on a consumer’s credit report was increased from six months to one year.
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