Vice President Kamala Harris announced that medical debt will no longer be allowed to count toward people’s credit scores, as the Biden administration takes another step to improve lives.
Read: The Republican Presumptive Nominee for President is A Convicted Felon
What Vice President Kamala Harris Revealed About Medical Debt
Harris told PoliticusUSA during a call with reporters:
Today, more than 100 million Americans struggle with medical debt. Usually, medical debt is the result of a medical emergency. Unplanned, unexpected costs are often tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. And one of the most important consequences of incurring medical debt is harm to a person’s credit score.
Medical debt makes it more difficult for millions of Americans to get approved for car loans, home loans, or small business loans. All of them become more difficult to obtain, the more advanced they are. And that’s just not fair. Especially when we know that people with medical debt are less likely to pay off their debt than those without medical debt.
No one should be denied access to economic opportunity just because they have a medical emergency. So today I’m proud to announce that we’re going to make medical debt impossible to put on your credit score. We make it so that medical debt doesn’t work when you apply for a car loan, a home loan, or a small business loan, or something like that.
As a result of this change, millions of Americans will see an increase in their credit score on average of 20 points, which means that every year approximately 22,000 more American families will be approved for a mortgage and can buy a house.
….
From the beginning. Our administration, President Biden and I, and our administration are focused on eliminating the medical debt burden. We’ve forgiven more than 650 million so far, and we’re about to forgive another 7 billion, with a B, for millions of Americans across the country. Today, I then issued a call to states, cities, and hospitals in our country. In joining us to forgive medical debt, President Biden and I will continue to create a future where everyone has the opportunity to build wealth and, in turn, build a stronger economy that benefits us all.
The Biden Administration’s Action on Medical Debt Will Help Millions of Americans
According to the White House Fact Sheet, “Today, Vice President Kamala Harris and CFPB Director Rohit Chopra announced new actions by the CFPB that will remove medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans, raising their credit scores by an average of 20 points and leading to approval of approximately 22,000 additional mortgages per year. Under the CFPB’s proposed rule, there would be zero Americans with medical debt listed on their credit reports, down from 46 million in 2020. The Vice President also asked states, local governments, and health care providers to take additional measures to reduce the burden of medical debt for millions of Americans, building on the $7 billion in medical debt that will be eliminated by the end of 2026, thanks to the American Rescue Plan (ARP).
Trump and the Republicans want to bury millions of Americans in medical debt
Republicans have proposed legislation and tried for years to dismantle and get rid of the CFPB. If the Republicans are successful, actions like the medical debt announced by Vice President Harris will disappear. Millions of Americans will have more debt and less protection. Everything from Biden’s reforms to junk fees charged by banks and credit card companies to people’s unaccounted medical debt will disappear if Trump and the GOP have their way.
Elections have consequences, and whether millions of Americans know it or not, a second Trump term will make their lives worse.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also the White House Press Pool and Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Professional Awards and Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association
