New York State Updates
BY MAYSOON KHAN
Published 3:43 PM EDT, June 21, 2023
Share
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Hospitals and other health care providers in New York would be banned from reporting medical debt to credit agencies under a bill passed this week by the state’s legislature — a measure intended to limit the damage that illness and injury can do to someone’s financial health.
If signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the law would make New York the second state, after Colorado, to prohibit medical debt from being collected by credit reporting agencies or included in a credit report.
National credit reporting agencies had already voluntarily agreed to not report medical debts under $500, but advocates say additional protections are needed.
If signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the law would make New York the second state, after Colorado, to prohibit medical debt from being collected by credit reporting agencies or included in a credit report.
National credit reporting agencies had already voluntarily agreed to not report medical debts under $500, but advocates say additional protections are needed.
If signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the law would make New York the second state, after Colorado, to prohibit medical debt from being collected by credit reporting agencies or included in a credit report.
National credit reporting agencies had already voluntarily agreed to not report medical debts under $500, but advocates say additional protections are needed.
Some Republican lawmakers fear the legislation could have unintended consequences.
Republican Assemblymember Josh Jensen, who voted against the bill, said that while there is a need to ensure emergency medical debt doesn’t haunt people, the legislation is too expansive and should not apply to non-emergency care.
“There’s a concern that people could incur an amount of debt with no intention to pay it back, rather than the intended reasoning of the legislation to ensure people who need that critical care can get it without worrying the debt will follow them around forever,” said Jensen.
The bill would go into effect immediately if signed by Hochul, a Democrat.
“Medical debt is a serious problem that creates a crushing burden for many New Yorkers and unfairly undermines their financial security,” Chuck Bell, advocacy program director for nonprofit Consumer Reports, said in a statement. “This bill protects the right of New Yorkers to obtain the health care services they need without fear of having their credit records unfairly ruined.”
Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Maysoon Khan on Twitter.
All Rights Reserved, property of apnews.com
Link: https://apnews.com/article/medical-debt-credit-reports-new-york-aa9658cd02f28502d2537a3a55a83323
Progress on EO 202.61
The NERUCA Government Affairs Committee is pleased to announce that our recent efforts regarding New York State Executive Order 202.61 has resulted in an easing of the order’s time constraint for reporting of COVID-19 and Influenza test results.
Executive Order 202.72, issued by Governor Andrew Cuomo late last Tuesday, pushes the requirement to report results to NYS-DOH back, from 3 hours to 24 hours. Executive Order 202.61, detailing several new reporting requirements was issued on September 9th and made known to NERUCA on September 21st.
Though in agreement with the basic principles underlying the order, NERUCA and the Government Affairs Committee has been and continues to work with various partners within the state’s health care community, actively engaged in lobbying the Executive and DOH as well as the Legislature, as we seek to alter several of the order’s extremely burdensome requirements.
For more information or interest in joining the Government Affairs Committee, please contact Jonathan Halpert, MD at [email protected] or John Kulin, DO at [email protected].
