More than 50 patient and consumer advocacy groups have signed letters urging the Biden administration to strengthen its efforts to protect patients from medical bills and debt collectors, Kaiser Health News reported March 7.
The groups call for several new rules in letters sent to the IRS and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to the report. Among other things, they are seeking to bar hospitals from selling patient debt or denying care to people with past-due bills.
Other reforms sought include prohibiting debt for medically necessary care from appearing on consumer credit reports and eliminating deferred interest on medical credit cards. The groups are also asking the IRS to crack down on nonprofit health systems that withhold financial assistance from low-income patients or make aid difficult to obtain.
They are also seeking rules that would set common standards for charity care, according to the report, as well as stronger limits on how much nonprofit hospitals charge and restrictions on aggressive collection tactics such as foreclosing on patients' homes.
Among the groups are the National Consumer Law Center, the Arthritis Foundation and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, according to the report.
Collection industry officials have lobbied against broader credit reporting restrictions, arguing there could be unintended consequences that reduce care options, according to the report. Jack Brown III, president of the Gulf Coast Collection Bureau, told Kaiser Health News that more medical providers would also start demanding upfront payments.