S. 2519

119 S2519 IS: Medical Debt Relief Act of 2025
 U.S. Senate
 2025-07-29
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
  II
  119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
  S. 2519
  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
  July 29, 2025
  Mr. Merkley  (for himself,  Mr. Blumenthal ,  Mr.
  Fetterman ,  Mr. Welch ,
  Mr. Warnock , and  Mrs. Gillibrand ) introduced the following bill; which was read
  twice and referred to the  Committee on
  Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  A BILL
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit the inclusion of medical
  debt on a consumer report, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Medical Debt Relief Act of 2025  .
2.
Amendments to Fair Credit Reporting Act
(a)
Medical debt defined
Section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( 15 U.S.C. 1681a ) is amended by adding at the end the following:
(bb)
Medical debt
The term  medical debt  means a debt related to, in whole or in part, transactions, accounts, or balances arising from the receipt of medical services, products, or devices.
  .
(b)
Exclusion for medical debt
(1)
In general
Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( 15 U.S.C. 1681c(a) ) is amended by striking paragraph (6) and inserting the following:
(6)
Any adverse information related to a medical debt, including a medical debt that was placed for collection, charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action.
  .
(2)
Technical and conforming amendments
Section 604(g) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( 15 U.S.C. 1681b(g) ) is amended—
(A)
in paragraph (1)—
(i)
in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking  (other than medical contact information treated in the manner required under section 605(a)(6)) ;
(ii)
in subparagraph (A), by adding  or  at the end;
(iii)
in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking  ; or  and inserting a period; and
(iv)
by striking subparagraph (C); and
(B)
in paragraph (2), by striking  (other than medical information treated in the manner required under section 605(a)(6)) .
3.
Modification of regulations relating to prohibitions on use of medical debt
  information
(a)
Definitions
In this section, the terms  credit  and  creditor  have the meanings given those terms in section 702 of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act ( 15 U.S.C. 1691a ).
(b)
Requirement
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shall amend section 1022.30 of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation, to ensure that creditors are prohibited from obtaining or using information relating to the medical debt of a consumer in determining whether or not to extend credit to that consumer.