One of the new consumer protection laws passed by the 2024 MN Legislature, is a prohibition of reporting medical debt. This takes effect October 1.
Since the law appears to be targeted toward credit reporting agencies and debt collectors, I presume that this is intended more for medical debts that were incurred in Minnesota, as opposed to Minnesota residents who may have incurred medical debts out of state. But this distinction may become moot, as the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau recently updated its guidelines, to proscribe reporting of medical debts under $500, and medical debts that are under one year old. And that may be changing too.
While it seems fair not to punish people’s credit score due to having had to deal with unaffordable medical issues (which of course always precede medical bills), for people who may have lost touch with their creditors and want to consolidate and pay them all off, having a central repository of that information could be helpful.