Thanks Obama (if my memory serves me correctly)
Comment on In the US, what happens if you sustain a life threatening injury and you don't have insurance?
Foggyfroggy@lemmy.world 10 months agoNot exactly. Medical debt is different compared to retail debt like credit cards. It still sucks but the rules are different to protect people at least a little bit.
Gingerlegs@lemmy.world 10 months ago
deweydecibel@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s somewhat in the credit agencies best interests to ignore or heavily discount medical debt. Because so many people have it, and not by choice, to destroy everybody’s credit rating because of medical debt would decimate a significant portion of the country’s ability to get credit. That would have a domino effect on a great many things, and cause enough of an issue that it’s likely there would be further regulations on the credit agencies.
droans@lemmy.world 10 months ago
90% Obama (ACA), 10% Biden (No Surprise Act).
gabe@literature.cafe 10 months ago
Mind you, that is a recent change and there are some places that still illegally do so and it is a pain in the ass to get it removed.
deweydecibel@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yep. Medical debt is often not calculated into your credit score by the credit agencies, either, though not in all cases. Or if it is calculated in, it is heavily weighted against so it doesn’t cause much damage.
And it makes sense. Credit score is supposed to be a judge of your credit worthniess based on your history seeking credit and repaying debts. While medical debt is legitimate debt, it isn’t credit seeking behavior in the way an auto loan is. You didn’t choose to take it on, it would be inaccurate to take a trip to the ER into account when determining your credit seeking habits.
nocturne213@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I sustained a workplace injury (working on a movie set) and the production company never filed the paperwork, so their insurance would not cover me. I refused to pay the bill and it showed up on my credit report and caused issues for three years. Eventually i found my wrap gift from movie and inside the set medic had put a copy of the paperwork. I scanned it and emailed it to the hospital and within 72 hours it was taken care of and like a month later it was off my credit report. (Time frames may be off as this transpired in 2015)
droans@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I can’t imagine the mixed emotions you felt when you found that lmao.
droans@lemmy.world 10 months ago
About five or six years ago, most creditors started using a different FICO model which doesn’t include medical debt. Basically, the idea is that being unable to pay medical debt says very little about how well you can handle debt.
There are also models that don’t consider student loans, but those aren’t used as often.