this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023
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Unpaid medical debt will no longer appear in New York residents’ credit reports under a bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday.

The law prohibits credit agencies from collecting information about or reporting medical debt. The law also bans hospitals and health care providers in the state from reporting such debt to the agencies.

New York is the second state after Colorado to enact such a law. A similar nationwide measure is being considered by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“Medical debt is such a vicious cycle. It truly hits low-income earners, but it forces them to stay low-income earners because they can’t never get out from under it,” Hochul, a Democrat, said at the bill- signing ceremony in New York City.

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[–] [email protected] 86 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

One day you black out. You wake up. You're now $20,000 in debt.

None of this debt makes sense to begin with. This change doesn't fix that.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago

Now you are cleared for more debt. System is working as intended.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

No, but it's a step in the right direction. You're not going to have your application for an apartment denied due to that credit hit now, for example.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is a band-aid measure that addresses neither the broken healthcare system nor cost of living crisis.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (3 children)

A bandaid is better than nothing.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I would call a band aid solution an insult at this point

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Just throw a band aid on that kidney failure and call it a day

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not if you're bleeding out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It's better than nothing if you're bleeding out. It's not better than nothing if you're allergic to band-aids.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (3 children)

So just like cannabis prohibition, minimum wage that never increases, and abortion bans, medical debt wrecking your credit is now a Red State Problem that will never be fixed at the national level.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They don't want that down there. Those folks who vote red want it that way. They like the struggle to survive... apparently.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

There are a lot of us who haven't moved simply because we can't afford it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

And there's the attitude I'm talking about.

These policies are designed to get people who are likely to vote for Democrats to leave red states, making them even harder to flip. This is how you get a permanent Republican majority in the Senate: by pretending that the victims of Republican policy deserve it because opposing it at the national level involves work.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

States can ignore what the senate tells them to do.

You might not know this, but marijuana is still a schedule 1 controlled substance.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean… good. I say this as someone living in Texas. Just let it play out, people in red states will suffer, and it’ll probably be their kids that figure shit out.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

The point of these policies is to get Democrats to leave and further cement Republican majorities in red states. If Republicans secure a permanent Senate majority like they're trying to do here, do you suspect they'll be content with keeping their policies at the state level?

Oh well, at least you'll get to see more stories about women denied abortions so you can laugh at them and say they deserved it, just like Republicans do.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

In most modern, developed countries, medical debt doesn't even exist.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

The greatest waste of resources is improving a system the should not exist

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Better idea: pass socialized health insurance. Much better than companies pretending to charge made up rates and people pretending to pay them.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How does this work in practice? What happens if you just don't pay medical debt?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Such person might be blacklisted for non-emergency care at places where they didn't pay.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Go out of town for elective procedures, got it.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Wonderful. Other states? Biden? Take notes. I can't imagine this being anything but popular come election time.

(Except for the crowd that will vote Republican no matter what - and fuck them anyway. This will help them too even if they refuse to acknowledge it.)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Biden administration announced this a few months ago. I haven't been keeping up with the latest status though.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-administration-to-ban-medical-debt-credit-scores/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the additional info!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Getting warmer.. now git rid of medical debt

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Good now do strudent loan debt as well. Also you need a special license to even attempt to collect debt anymore. License costs 10k and requires that you pass an exam in that state about debt collection laws.