Governor Wes Moore signed Maryland HB 1020 into law in April prohibiting medical debt information from being included in credit reports. The bill will go into effect October 1, 2025.
Maryland HB 1020 prohibits a consumer reporting agency (CRA) from furnishing any consumer report containing certain adverse information relating to a consumer’s medical debt. It also stops health care facilities, practitioners or ambulance services from disclosing medical debt information to a CRA.
Maryland HB 1020 defined medical debt to include bills that are not past due or have already been paid. It does not include debt charged to a credit card unless the credit card is issued under an open-end or closed-end credit plan offered solely for the payment of healthcare services.
In addition to these rules Maryland HB 1020 does not allow CRAs to maintain a file on a consumer related to medical debt and prohibits a person from using medical debt information for determining creditworthiness of a consumer.
Maryland joins a growing list of states like California and Minnesota that prohibit medical debt from credit reports.
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