Too many Americans have bad credit because of unpaid medical bills. That’s not likely to change anytime soon, despite two reforms in how those bills will be reported to the credit bureaus.
Starting Sept. 15:
—There will be a 180-day waiting period before unpaid medical debts can show up on people’s credit reports.
—Medical collections will be deleted from credit reports if they’re paid by health insurers.
Credit bureaus Equifax, Experian and TransUnion agreed to the new standards as part of two settlements with state attorneys general in 2015. The changes in medical debt reporting were designed to help people whose bills fell through the cracks between their health care providers and their insurance companies, says Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center.
In my latest for the Associated Press, find out who these changes are expected to help.
This seems to indicate that medical bills should NOT be charged to your credit cards.
I have seen medical office employees push patients to pay bills with their credit card, which of course will cost you a lot in interest if you can’t pay the bill quickly.
When that is done, aren’t you giving up the special treatment for medical bills described here?
Exactly.