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S04907 Summary:

S04907 Actions:

S04907 Committee Votes:

S04907 Floor Votes:

S04907 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         4907--A
            Cal. No. 1000
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                    IN SENATE
 
                                    February 17, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  Sens.  RIVERA,  CLEARE, COONEY, GONZALEZ, HOYLMAN-SIGAL,
          KRUEGER, LIU, MAY, MYRIE -- read twice and ordered printed,  and  when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- reported favora-
          bly  from  said  committee  and committed to the Committee on Consumer
          Protection -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to first
          and second report, amended on second report, ordered to a third  read-
          ing,  and to be reprinted as amended, retaining its place in the order
          of third reading
 
        AN ACT to amend the public health law and the general business  law,  in
          relation to prohibiting medical debt from being collected by a consum-
          er reporting agency or included in a consumer report
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
     2  the "fair medical debt reporting act".
     3    §  2. The public health law is amended by adding a new article 49-A to
     4  read as follows:
 
     5                                ARTICLE 49-A
     6                           MEDICAL DEBT REPORTING
     7  Section 4925. Definitions.
     8          4926. Medical  debt  reporting  prohibited  in  contracts   with
     9                  collection entities.
    10          4927. Enforcement.
    11    §  4925.  Definitions.  As  used  in this article, the following terms
    12  shall have the following meanings:
    13    1. "Medical debt" means an  obligation  or  alleged  obligation  of  a
    14  consumer  to  pay any amount whatsoever related to the receipt of health
    15  care services, products, or devices provided to a person by  a  hospital
    16  licensed  under  article  twenty-eight  of  this  chapter, a health care
    17  professional authorized under title eight of the  education  law  or  an

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09626-03-3
        S. 4907--A                          2
 
     1  ambulance  service  certified  under  article  thirty  of  this chapter.
     2  Medical debt does not include debt charged to a credit card  unless  the
     3  credit  card  is  issued  under an open-ended or closed-end plan offered
     4  specifically  for  the  payment  of  health  care services, products, or
     5  devices provided to a person.
     6    2. "Collection entity" means any individual, partnership, corporation,
     7  trust,  estate,  co-operative,  association,  government  or  government
     8  subdivision,  agency  or other entity that either purchases medical debt
     9  or collects medical debt on behalf of another entity.
    10    3. "Consumer reporting agency" shall have the  same  meaning  as  such
    11  term  is  defined in section three hundred eighty-a of the general busi-
    12  ness law.
    13    § 4926. Medical debt reporting prohibited in contracts with collection
    14  entities. A hospital licensed under article twenty-eight of  this  chap-
    15  ter,  a  health  care  professional  authorized under title eight of the
    16  education law, or an ambulance service certified under article thirty of
    17  this chapter:
    18    1. shall not furnish any portion of  a  medical  debt  to  a  consumer
    19  reporting agency; and
    20    2.  shall  include  a  provision  in  any contract entered into with a
    21  collection entity for the purchase or collection of  medical  debt  that
    22  prohibits the reporting of any portion of such medical debt to a consum-
    23  er reporting agency.
    24    §  4927.  Enforcement. Any portion of a medical debt that is furnished
    25  to a consumer reporting agency shall be void.
    26    § 3. Section 380-a of the general business law is amended by adding  a
    27  new subdivision (v) to read as follows:
    28    (v) The term "medical debt" means any obligation or alleged obligation
    29  of  a  consumer  to  pay any amount whatsoever related to the receipt of
    30  health care services,  products,  or  devices  provided  by  a  hospital
    31  licensed  under  article twenty-eight of the public health law, a health
    32  care professional authorized under title eight of the education law,  or
    33  an ambulance service certified under article thirty of the public health
    34  law.
    35    §  4. Subdivision (a) of section 380-j of the general business law, as
    36  added by chapter 867 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as follows:
    37    (a) No consumer reporting agency shall report or maintain in the  file
    38  on a consumer, information:
    39    (1) relative to an arrest or a criminal charge unless there has been a
    40  criminal  conviction  for such offense, or unless such charges are still
    41  pending,
    42    (2) relative to a consumer's race, religion, color, ancestry or ethnic
    43  origin, [or]
    44    (3) relative to a medical debt as defined in this statute; or
    45    (4) which it has reason to know is inaccurate.
    46    § 5. Subparagraphs (vii) and (viii) of paragraph 1 of subdivision  (f)
    47  of section 380-j of the general business law, as added by chapter 867 of
    48  the laws of 1977, are amended to read as follows:
    49    (vii) information relating to past confinement in a mental institution
    50  where  the  date  of  last confinement antedates the report by more than
    51  seven years; [or]
    52    (viii) information relating to a medical debt regardless of  the  date
    53  it was incurred; or
    54    (ix)  any other adverse information which antedates the report by more
    55  than seven years.
    56    § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.