John,

Congress is back from its Thanksgiving break, meaning it only has a few weeks left to address skyrocketing health costs by passing a plan to extend the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits. The next few weeks are critical for health care affordability because the enhanced tax credits expire on December 31st.

Slashing the premium tax credit means people like Beth Dryer, an executive director of a small nonprofit in Norfolk, Virginia, will see her premium rise from $80 per month to $425.03 per month, and Stacy Cox, a photographer in Utah, will see her and her husband’s premium increase by 300%—from $495.32 per month to $2,168.68 per month.¹

We are in an affordability crisis―with families struggling with costs of basic needs like groceries and health care. One aspect that’s often overlooked in this fight is the crippling medical debt millions of people will incur due to a lack of insurance.

Under President Biden, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) created a groundbreaking rule that banned medical debt from credit reports. The change didn’t erase anyone’s bills―it simply stopped credit bureaus from reporting them, so families could rebuild without being trapped by medical debt that mounted beyond their control.

Now, Donald Trump’s CFPB appointees are trying to roll back that protection. They’ve moved to undo the Biden-era rule and allow credit bureaus to once again list medical debt―even debt caused by emergencies, billing errors, or insurance delays.² They’re also trying to block states from enforcing their own protections.³

Congress can stop this by stepping in and defending the CFPB’s medical debt rule.

Send a message to Congress today and demand they keep medical debt off our credit reports.

Medical debt often happens because someone becomes unexpectedly sick or injured in an accident, and is a critical issue for people with disabilities and many others.⁴ It’s forced on Americans due to our for-profit health care system that unfairly burdens people whose incomes are low or moderate.

The repercussions can be devastating. When medical debt is included on credit reports, it can be much harder for someone to secure employment or housing. It’s likely to increase interest rates or make it harder to get other credit to buy a car or a home. And perhaps worst of all, unpaid medical debt can lead people to avoid needed medical care in the future.

If Trump succeeds in rolling back the Biden-era rule, it would be a disaster for working families already struggling to manage or recover from medical costs. Imagine surviving a medical crisis―then finding out your credit is ruined because of hospital bills you couldn’t pay. That’s what this rollback would bring back. Worst of all, if Congress lets the ACA enhanced premium tax credits expire, there will be millions more people underinsured or going without insurance altogether―and therefore more vulnerable to incurring medical debt.

Join us in calling on Congress to keep medical debt off our credit reports.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action

¹ Obamacare enrollee sees premium spike over 300% as sign-up period begins: 'This will devastate us'
² The CFPB wanted medical debt to be left off credit reports. That's changed under Trump
³ Spend Trump CFPB takes aim at 15 states that ban medical debt on credit reports—it’s ‘salt in the wound,’ says consumer advocate
⁴ Explaining Medical Debt and the CFPB Rule: What’s Going On With Medical Debt, and How Does It Impact Consumers with Disabilities? - AAPD