Why Americans Are Drowning in Medical Debt

[liberalhistorian]

79. It still shows up on your credit report, but

FFICO does not give it any weight in calculating credit scores, which is a huge step in the right direction. In many places, credit scores matter more than what is on your report. That is not to say that some lenders/landlords/employers/insurance companies and others whose money props up the fraudulent private credit reporting and scoring industry do not give the medical debt a lot of weight, but, frankly, many don't as they recognize that it is not a measure of your financial responsibility and reliability as much as, say, not paying rent or running up and then not paying credit card bills, etc.

It doesn't mean you're not still responsible for the debt and that you cannot be pursued for it. And yes, all debts fall off the credit report after seven years, unless a collectroll agency has "re-aged" it, which is illegal. The only exceptions to the seven-year-rule are bankruptcies, which stay on the report for ten years, and court judgments, which can be renewed several times if left unpaid. The Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Act gives this information in more detail.

Personally, I don't believe medical debt should be permitted on credit reports AT ALL, period, not as long as we have a for-profit, insurance-driven health care system. But you've got to start somewhere, and the FICO announcement is a step in the right direction.