Proposed New Jersey Laws Would Improve Medical Billing, Advocates Say

NEW JERSEY — Getting saddled with a pile of medical bills is tough enough for most New Jersey residents. But having your minor medical debt reported to credit agencies only adds insult to injury, advocates say – and that’s presuming you can even decipher your bill in the first place.

A pair of proposed laws involving medical debt and billing were introduced in the state Senate last week: S-2806/A-3861 and S-2795/A-3860.

The first bill would limit credit agencies’ abilities to create reports on a person’s medical debt if it’s less than $500.

Here’s what S-2806/A-3861 would do if it becomes law:

CONSUMER REPORTS (S-2806/A-3861) – “This bill, titled the ‘Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act,’ prohibits a consumer reporting agency from creating a consumer report containing a patient’s paid medical debt or a medical debt worth less than $500, regardless of the date the medical debt was incurred. The bill prohibits a medical creditor or medical debt collector from reporting a patient’s medical debt to any consumer reporting agency. The bill provides certain protections to patients with medical debt from collection actions by medical creditors and medical debt collectors. The bill also provides that any portion of a medical debt furnished to a consumer reporting agency in violation of the bill will be void, and that it will be a violation of the ‘consumer fraud act’ for a medical debt collector or creditor to violate the medical debt provisions of the bill.”

The second bill would ensure that patients get a bill that lays out their charges – which is written in “plain language” that minimizes medical jargon.

Here’s what S-2795/A-3860 would do if it becomes law:

MEDICAL BILLS IN ‘PLAIN LANGUAGE’ – “This bill establishes certain medical billing requirements concerning the specific nature of charges or expenses for health care services. The bill requires a health care provider to provide to the patient or to the patient's survivor or legal guardian, as appropriate, a consolidated, itemized statement or bill detailing the specific nature of the charges or expenses for the health care services the patient received from the provider. The health care provider must provide the statement or bill within 30 days after a patient's discharge or release or within seven days after receiving a written request. The description of billed charges will be in plain language that is comprehensible to an ordinary layperson but may include technical terms to describe the health care services if the technical terms are defined using limited medical nomenclature as permitted under the rules adopted pursuant to this bill.”

The proposed laws got a thumbs-up from a local coalition of advocates.

“It will take a comprehensive approach to address the issue of medical debt in New Jersey,” said Laura Waddell, convener of the NJ for Health Care Coalition.

“We should continue to look at the issue in terms of prevention through affordability, alleviation of current debt burdens and systemic changes – like these – that bring strong consumer protections to ensure patients are not financially ruined by this type of debt,” Waddell added.

“Patients are hungry for change when it comes to medical debt – literally and figuratively,” agreed president and CEO of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, E. Anders Kolb.

“From skipping doctors’ appointments to being forced to change the type of food they buy, millions are making daily sacrifices as they go deeper into medical debt,” Kolb said. “People from all political backgrounds are calling for a better system.”

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