More than 100 million people in the United States – 41 percent of adults – have unpaid health care bills. While medical debt is widespread, the burden falls disproportionately on some communities. Black and Hispanic adults are more likely to report medical debt than White adults. Women are more likely than men to have medical debt, and women who recently gave birth are more than twice as likely to have medical debt than women who did not recently give birth. In addition, individuals who have disabilities are more than twice as likely as those without disabilities to report medical debt.

Medical debt results from necessary and often life-saving medical care. Allowing medical debt to ruin credit scores exacerbates existing inequalities in this country in health and economic well-being. Prohibiting the inclusion of medical debt in credit eligibility determinations will ensure that medical debt does not impair people’s ability to obtain a car loan, mortgage, or a loan to start a new business.

That is why we applaud CFPB’s proposed rule to remove medical debt from credit eligibility determinations and the prohibition on repossessing medical devices. The proposed rule would have significant benefits. To learn more about the benefits of these changes and to explore key areas where we urge the CFPB to go further, view our comments below.

Read our full comments here