The Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act – Action Needed!!!

One sentence in the Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act (CDCIA H.R. 2547) could fundamentally change medical collections forever – “Engaging in activities to collect or attempting to collect a medical debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due by a consumer, before the end of the 2-year period beginning on the date that the first payment with respect to such medical debt is due.” 

 As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the federal government has enacted several measures to help protect consumers from being financially impacted in a negative way. These positive actions could soon be overshadowed by a bill that has passed the House of Representatives and is heading to the Senate. 

 The Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act (CDCIA H.R. 2547) was introduced by Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) with the goal of expanding and enhancing consumer, student, servicemember, and small business protections with respect to debt collection practices, and for other purposes. The House of Representatives passed H.R. 2547 on May 13, by a 215-207 vote, sending the bill to the Senate. 

 This bill should not be confused with either Regulation F or the CFPB. According to an InsideARM article, there are pieces of the CDCIA that don’t entirely align with Regulation F and there is no clear link between the proposed bill and the CFPB, except in the places where it explicitly tells the director of the CFPB the things they would need to do. The CDCIA essentially takes eight proposed consumer protection bills, including H.R. 2537 (the “Consumer Protection for Medical Debt Collections Act”), and consolidates them into one comprehensive consumer protection bill. 

 While on the surface, this may seem like a noble idea, what it does not consider is the negative impact on not only future lending, but in the case of hospitals and providers, the survival of medical care in America. 

 If H.R. 2547 were to be signed into law, it would bar hospitals and providers from sending medical debt to collections for TWO YEARS. The bill would add the following wording to Section 808, Unfair Practices, of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, as amended by section 202(b): 

 “(10) Engaging in activities to collect or attempting to collect a medical debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due by a consumer, before the end of the 2-year period beginning on the date that the first payment with respect to such medical debt is due.” 

 Forcing hospitals and providers to potentially wait more than two years to begin trying to collect payments for services which they rendered in good faith to their patients could bring about the end of quality healthcare in the country. The healthcare industry is already forced to survive on razor thin margins and a system where many people who can afford to pay, choose not to. Trying to protect these people from their choice to not pay would have consequences that reach far beyond the medical world. 

 But the fight is not over. Americollect is joining other organizations like the ACA to lobby senators and representatives, educating them on the negative impact this bill would have on medical collections and in turn, how healthcare is provided. 

 You must join the fight and help ensure that H.R. 2547 does not advance any further. It is important that all healthcare organizations and providers contact their senators and representatives to share with them the negative impacts this bill would have on the work you do every day to provide quality healthcare to your community. You should also contact organizations you are members of, such as the American Hospital Association and the Healthcare Financial Management Association, and share with them the importance of making sure this bill does not reach the president.  

 Americollect will continue to not only monitor this bill, but also fight to stop it from being signed into law. 

 While protecting consumers is important, it should not happen at the detriment of the entire healthcare industry, which every American relies on to live a healthy life.