April 11, 2022
16:03 |
VP Supplemental Pool #1 — Gathered
Hello -- I'm your pooler for VP Harris' event in the South Court auditorium with new announcements on medical debt.
Below is quite a bit of background from the White House. Event is expected to start at 4:15.
Guests are already seated.
On Background from a White House Official
Today, as part of the fight to help Americans deal with high costs, Vice President Kamala Harris is announcing new actions to protect consumers and lessen the burden of medical debt on American families. Read the White House fact sheet HERE.
One-in-three adults in the United States have medical debt. It is now the largest source of debt in collections—more than credit cards, utilities, and auto loans combined. Black and Hispanic households are more likely to hold medical debt than white households.
Together, today's announcements will help:
- Hold medical providers and debt collectors accountable for harmful practices;
- Reduce the role that medical debt plays in determining whether Americans can access credit – which will open up new opportunities for people with medical debt to buy a home or get a small business loan;
- Help over half a million of low-income American veterans get their medical debt forgiven; and,
- Inform consumers of their rights.
The Vice President will host an event at the White House today at 4:15 PM, where she will deliver remarks about the announcements. Vice President Harris will be joined by NEC Director Brian Deese, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, OMB Director Shalanda Young, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, USDA Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh, and VA Deputy Secretary Donald Remy.
Additional Background
- One-in-three adults in the United States have medical debt. It is now the largest source of debt in collections—more than credit cards, utilities, and auto loans combined. Black and Hispanic households are more likely to hold medical debt than white households.
- Medical debt is not just a financial issue—it can have negative health effects too. One study found that almost half of individuals with medical debt intentionally avoided seeking care.
Today's announcements will include reforms in four areas that will lessen the burden of medical debt, protect consumers, and open up new opportunities for Americans looking to buy a home or start a small business:
- Holding Providers and Collectors Accountable
- Today, Secretary Becerra is directing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to evaluate how providers' billing practices impact access and affordability of care and the accrual of medical debt. HHS will request data from more than 2,000 providers on medical bill collection practices, lawsuits against patients, financial assistance, financial product offerings, and 3rd party contracting or debt buying practices. The Department will, for the first time, weigh this information in their grantmaking decisions, publish topline data and policy recommendations for the public, and share potential violations with the relevant enforcement agencies of jurisdiction.
- Separately, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will investigate credit reporting companies and debt collectors that violate patients' and families' rights, and hold violators accountable. The CFPB has already issued a bulletin to prevent unlawful medical debt collection and reporting. The CFPB will target coercive credit reporting and determine whether unpaid medical billing data should ever be included in credit reports.
- Improve Government Underwriting Practices
- The Biden-Harris Administration is providing guidance to all agencies to eliminate medical debt as a factor for underwriting in credit programs, whenever possible and consistent with law.
- Americans with medical debt can apply for USDA rural housing service loans without fear that their medical debt could keep them from getting a mortgage. Today, USDA is announcing that it will discontinue the inclusion of any recurring medical debts into borrower repayment calculations, which measure a borrower's ability to repay for its homeownership programs—over $20 billion in lending activity.
- The Department of Veteran Affairs has taken multiple steps to ensure credit reporting and underwriting regarding medical debt, including finalizing a rule to virtually cease reporting of medical debt for veterans with bills from VA Care. VA will also review its underwriting guidelines to ensure we minimize or eliminate medical debt reporting as a proxy for creditworthiness, wherever possible.
- The Small Business Administration has a demonstrated commitment to ensuring credit access and a vested interest in accurate credit reporting and underwriting. To further this commitment, SBA will work with its colleagues and partners to lessen the financial burden of medical debt for families and to review SBA lending programs to identify ways to reduce the negative impact of medical debt on small business access to capital.
- FHFA is reviewing the credit models that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac use and looking at ways to ensure that measures of creditworthiness are accurate, reliable, and predictive.
- To reinforce these measures, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will be issuing new guidance to agencies to, whenever possible and consistent with law, eliminate medical debt as a factor for underwriting in credit programs, or reduce its impact.
- Support Veterans in Financial Hardship
- Veterans Affairs (VA) will now make it easier and faster for lower-income veterans to get their VA medical debt forgiven. Currently, veterans in financial hardship who need medical debt relief from VA must fill out a complex, paper form with complicated eligibility requirements. The application process is confusing, time-consuming, and as a result, veterans may be deterred from applying for much-needed relief. To address these problems and ensure that veterans get the relief they deserve, VA will streamline the request process, including offering an online option to apply, and set a simple income threshold to qualify for relief.
- VA has also published a final rule under which it will virtually cease reporting unfavorable debt, including medical debt, to consumer reporting agencies. The new rule ensures that debt reported better reflects creditworthiness, while saving veterans from further financial struggles simply because they had to take on medical debt.
- Help Consumers Know Their Rights
- The CFPB will ramp-up its consumer education tools aimed at helping American families navigate the complex and often confusing medical billing landscape, including more materials specifically designed to help patients access the financial assistance they are entitled to.
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April 11, 2022
16:41 |
VP Supplemental Pool #3 — speaking order
speaking order from the White House:
- Director Brian Deese, National Economic Council
- Deputy Secretary Donald Remy, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Director Rohit Chopra, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Director Shalanda Young, Office of Management and Budget
- Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh, Department of Agriculture
- Secretary Xavier Becerra, Department of Health and Human Services
- Alexander Sentayhu, Beneficiary of Debt Relief Initiatives (introduces Vice President Harris)
-VP Harris
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