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Vance questions authority of US judges to challenge Trump; UAW contract negotiations at VW focus on higher wages, health care, retirement; Report highlights how Georgia can unlock rural infrastructure, broadband; Leftover fish parts could help keep industrial fishing waste low.

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The head of the new White House Faith Office draws scrutiny, Trump moves to fire the Federal Elections Commission chair, and a North Carolina judge won't toss tens of thousands of ballots in a state Supreme Court race.

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Marylanders' medical debt off limits to banks, lenders

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Tuesday, January 14, 2025   

A new federal rule could ease some of the pressure when Marylanders apply for loans but may face challenges from the incoming Trump administration.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized a rule, stating credit agencies cannot share a person's medical debt history with a lending institution requesting credit information. The only debt details relayed to determine a person's creditworthiness are mortgages, car loans, credit cards and similar activity.

Patricia Kelmar, senior director of health care campaigns for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said groups like hers had long pushed for the move.

"Medical debt is not really indicative of somebody's ability or desire to pay back a loan," Kelmar contended. "Oftentimes people are in a situation where they get a bad medical diagnosis or they've been in a car accident, suddenly they have a lot of medical bills."

According to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, more than 7% of Maryland adults reported having medical debt. The national average is 8%.

Some credit agencies already exclude medical debt in loan situations. Kelmar acknowledged the incoming Trump administration could seek to reverse the rule change, as some advisers have said they want to do away with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau altogether.

Pushback is also expected from debt-collection firms but Kelmar argued skeptics should know keeping medical debt out of the equation is good for the overall economy.

"The long arm of medical debt can really hurt people's financial future, and their ability to get better," Kelmar asserted.

For example, she noted a person emerging from a medical scare might need a new car to rejoin the workforce but the sudden health care debt they incurred might get in the way. The new rule will be effective 60 days after it's published in the Federal Register.


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