COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A recently introduced Ohio bill is aiming to help residents pay off their medical debt.
House Bill 257 would cap interest rates for medical debt at 3% per year and prohibit health care providers and third-party collectors from reporting medical debt to credit agencies.
Introduced by Reps. Michele Grim (D-Toledo) and Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) last week, the bill would also prohibit wage garnishment for medical debt, meaning courts could not demand employers withhold a person’s earnings and use that money to repay debt.
“Medical debt can happen to anyone,” Grim said at a May 6 news conference. “No one chooses to get sick or injured, no one plans on a car accident, a cancer diagnosis or an unexpected hospital stay. Yet for too many Ohioans, this is exactly how medical debt begins. Across our state, families are being punished not for financial recklessness, but for needing health care.”
Currently in Ohio, if a medical bill goes to collections, patients can face an interest rate of 8% or higher, according to Grim. While the legislation does not forgive medical debt, its sponsors claim it would help ensure patients are not trapped in a cycle of ever-growing debt.
“You’re still responsible for the debt, but it won’t ruin the rest of your life,” Schmidt said. “It will give Ohioans added safeguards so they can continue to get well and live a life that gives them the opportunity to be healthy, both physically, mentally and economically.”
About 9.1%, or 810,000, of adults in Ohio reported having medical debt in a given year from 2019 to 2021, according to the health research nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. The organization found those with medical debt often cut back on basic household necessities, drain their savings accounts, increase their credit card debt and take on extra jobs.
“You might have insurance, but there are unintended costs that go outside of insurance,” Schmidt said. “This bill is common sense.”
Rachel Doan, a Columbus area resident, shared her experience with medical debt at the news conference announcing the bill. In 2010, her then 7-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia. Fifteen years later, she said her family is still dealing with the medical debt of her son, who is now a 22-year-old student at Ohio State University.
“There are some bills that I know went to collections, which I know are on my credit report,” Doan said. “Not for lack of me making monthly minimum payments — there is only so much money I can make and keep my family together. I would like to tell you that I am an exception; I am not.”
HB 257 has been referred to the Health Committee where it awaits its first hearing. The bill has 26 cosponsors, including both Democrat and Republican lawmakers.
