White House convenes on reducing medical debt

Federal Issues White House FDCPA CFPB DHHS Department of Treasury California Colorado Washington

On December 8, President Biden met with over 80 federal and state officials to discuss reducing medical debts for Americans. The Biden-Harris administration desires to address medical payment products, unfair debt collection practices, surprise billing and facility fees, and charity care. This roundtable was one of several actions taken by the administration to lower Americans’ healthcare costs, in addition to (i) the CFPB’s report on how medical debt collectors pursue debts under the FDCPA, such as through misattributed billing and billing consumers without contacting them (previously covered by InfoBytes, here); and (ii) the CFPB’s proposed rule to remove medical bills from credit reports (also previously covered by InfoBytes, here). The roundtable featured speakers from the president’s council, the CFPB, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, DHHS, the Treasury, and representatives from California, Colorado, and Washington.