On July 1, a new Connecticut law will take effect preventing health care providers from reporting medical debt to credit agencies, shielding residents’ credit scores from the potential adverse financial impacts of seeking care.
State lawmakers passed the measure during the most recent legislative session. Sean King, the acting head of the Office of the Healthcare Advocate, said the change will ensure that getting medically necessary care won’t hamper someone’s ability to, for example, get financing for a house or car purchase in the future.
“People will be able to continue to move on with their lives in that way without these medical debts holding them back,” said King.
One important caveat is that the provision only applies to debt owed directly to a medical provider. If someone pays for medical services with a credit card and carries the debt on the card, it can still be reported to credit agencies.
Medical debt impacts roughly 280,000 people in Connecticut, or nearly 8% of residents. National polling shows that Black Americans, people in worse health and those with a disability are disproportionately burdened by medical debt.
At least two other states, New York and Colorado, have similar laws in place, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a federal version earlier this month.
In recent years, the major credit bureaus made several changes to their reporting of medical debt, including removing paid medical collections from credit reports and removing medical collections under $500 from credit reports.
The issue of medical debt has also been a focus for Gov. Ned Lamont. In 2023, he unveiled a plan to erase medical debt for residents using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA. The legislature ultimately approved a measure to spend $6.5 million to erase approximately $1 billion in medical debt for roughly 250,000 qualifying residents.
Julia Bergman, a spokesperson for Lamont, said the state has contracted with Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit that purchases medical debt held by low-income families at a steep discount. The organization’s website claims that every $10 donated cancels $1,000 in medical debt.
Bergman said that Undue Medical Debt now has to negotiate directly with the providers to understand which consumers qualify for debt cancellation. The administration hopes to begin informing residents that their debt has been canceled by the end of this year, but timing will depend on the progress of those discussions.
HUSKY for immigrants
The start of the new fiscal year will also bring an expansion to the state-sponsored Medicaid-like coverage for qualifying residents regardless of immigration status.
The program currently covers 12 months of postpartum care for pregnant people, as well as children 12 and under who wouldn’t otherwise qualify for Medicaid because of their immigration status. On July 1, the age of eligibility for children will increase to 15.
“They’re here, they’re attending our schools. They should be able to access health care and be healthy and thrive in their communities,” said King. “Frankly, [if] we can expand it all the way through 18 in high school, I think that would be great.”
Advocates hoped to increase the age of eligibility to 18 during the most recent legislative session, but ultimately budget constraints halted the effort.
The demand for coverage has been strong. As of April 2024, over 17,500 children and pregnant or postpartum people were enrolled who wouldn’t otherwise qualify for Medicaid because of their immigration status.
Wheelchair repair timelines
Next week will also bring measures meant to decrease wait times for wheelchair repairs.
The law, passed by the General Assembly in May, removes new prescription and prior authorizations requirements from Medicaid for medically necessary repairs in cases where the prescription for the chair is less than five years old. Private insurance policies renewed, amended or continued after Jan. 1, 2025 must do the same.
The measure also puts in place mechanisms to track wait times for repairs. The Office of the Healthcare Advocate will begin maintaining a record of complaints received regarding untimely wheelchair repairs and must report the data annually to the legislature beginning in January. Beginning Dec. 31, wheelchair providers will also have to report minimum, maximum and average wait times to the Department of Social Services.
The amount of time wheelchair users must wait for repairs has ballooned in recent years and grown even longer in the wake of COVID. While the law technically requires wheelchair dealers to conduct repairs no later than 10 business days after a consumer request, it doesn’t contain any penalties for failure to comply. Most advocates felt as if the measure didn’t go far enough.
“I think it is a good first step,” Michelle Duprey, an attorney and wheelchair user, wrote in a statement to The Connecticut Mirror when the law passed the General Assembly. “But there is quite a bit more work to be done to provide people with disabilities a stable and predictable medical equipment repair process.”
Legislators said they’re committed to giving the law more teeth if wait times don’t improve. King is hopeful that tracking the repair times and consumer complaints could have an impact.
“A lot of times shining a spotlight on an issue like this will lead to further changes,” said King. “Once there is a lot of public scrutiny of an issue people tend to find ways to address the issue and make things better for the consumers.”