New Laws Affect Medical Debt

The Illinois General Assembly last year approved two bills that address medical debt held by Illinois citizens. Governor JB Pritzker signed both bills into law and they are effective now.

SB 2933 prohibits consumer reporting agencies from including a person’s medical debt in their credit reports. The bill amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to make it illegal for consumer reporting agencies to make, create, or furnish any consumer report or credit report containing adverse information that the agency knows is related to medical debt. It does state that medical debt does not include debt charged to a credit card or an open-end extension of credit – unless that credit can only be used for medical reasons. 

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The bill is now Public Act 103-0648 and became effective on January 1, 2025. It was approved by the Senate 58-0 and by the House of Representatives 109-2.

So, while medical debt will not appear on a person’s credit report, the law does not invalidate the debt or the patient’s obligation to pay the provider.  Thus, a chiropractic physician may still use collection agencies to attempt to obtain payment from the patient. A last resort would be to seek payment through the court system by bringing suit against the patient.

HB 5290 created the Medical Debt Relief Act.  

The State of Illinois has committed $10 million to help alleviate the burden of medical debt for Illinois residents. This initiative has the potential to relieve up to $1 billion in medical debt for hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans.

The funding supports the Medical Debt Relief Pilot Program administered by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. The program works by purchasing from health systems and other providers outstanding medical debt owed by low-income Illinois residents and forgiving those debts at no cost to the individuals. Details of the program can be found here.

HB 5290 is now Public Act 103-0647 and became effective July 2, 2024.