Medical Debt Collectors Beware: New Connecticut Law, Effective July 1, 2024, Prohibits Medical Debt Reporting to Credit Rating Agencies

On May 9, 2024, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed Public Act 24-6, titled “An Act Concerning the Reporting of Medical Debt.”  The new law is significant for hospitals, health care providers and debt collectors attempting to collect and report on medical debt.

The new law prohibits Connecticut health care providers, hospitals, and collection entities from reporting a person’s medical debt to credit rating agencies for use in a credit report.  It also voids any medical debt that is reported to credit rating agencies.  The new law similarly requires health care providers to have a provision in their contracts with collection entities for the purchase or collection of medical debt that prohibits reporting the debt to credit rating agencies. Finally, the new law prohibits reporting an individual patient to a credit reporting agency and, on or after October 1, 2022, (i) initiating an action to foreclose a lien on an individual patient’s primary residence if the lien was filed to secure payment for health care provided by the hospital or entity that is owned by or affiliated with such hospital to such patient on or after October 1, 2022, or (ii) applying to a court for an execution of an individual patient’s wages under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-361a, or otherwise seeking to garnish such patient’s wages, to collect payment for health care provided by the hospital or entity that is owned by or affiliated with such hospital to such patient on or after October 1, 2022, if such patient is eligible for the hospital bed fund.  

The new law is effective July 1, 2024. To view P.A. 24-6, please click here. To learn more about this new legislation, please contact the author or your GRSM attorney.