Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to propose legislation to address the problem of medical debt and credit scores. While historic health reform legislation enacted this year sets us on a path towards ending the crushing problem of Americans who lack health insurance, the challenges of our health care billing system remain a work in progress. One of those problems arises when our system of third-party payment leads to errors in billing and payments that, through no fault of the borrower, nevertheless undermine a borrower's credit scores. The borrower then must pay more for a home, a car, or his or her credit card, and in some cases, cannot at all get the loan he or she needs and deserves. To address this unfair burden, I have introduced the Medical Debt Relief Act. Unlike consumer debt, Americans do not get to choose when accidents or medical emergencies happen. Medical debt is not the result of irresponsible consumer spending and is a not an indicator of poor credit. According to the Commonwealth Fund, accrued medical debt plagued nearly 72 million adults in 2007, and over 28 million American consumers were harassed by collection agencies for unpaid medical bills that same year. Research done by the Federal Reserve has found that medical bills make up the majority of non-credit card related accounts in collection and found on credit reports. Nor is the problem of medical debt in relation to credit scores simply a question of whether one has insurance or not.…”