Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with House amendments and pass a bill that prohibits reporting any medical debt to a consumer reporting agency in Delaware.

Highlights:

• Specifies that selling an individual’s debt to another party, except if, before the sale, the medical creditor has entered into a legally binding written agreement with the medical debt buyer of the debt under which all of the following apply (Sec. 1):

• The medical debt buyer or collector is prohibited from engaging in any extraordinary collection actions to obtain payment for the care;

• The medical debt buyer is prohibited from charging interest on the debt;

• The debt is returnable to or recallable by the medical creditor upon a determination by the medical creditor or medical debt buyer that the individual is eligible for financial assistance;

• The medical debt buyer is required to adhere to procedures that must be specified in the agreement that ensure that the individual does not pay, and has no obligation to pay, the medical debt buyer and the medical creditor together more than they are personally responsible for paying in compliance with this chapter; and

• The medical debt buyer is prohibited from communicating with, or reporting, any medical debt information to any consumer reporting agency regarding a consumer’s medical debt.

• Prohibits any individual from reporting medical debt to a consumer reporting agency (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text