On June 9, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed into law LD558, which prohibits the reporting of medical debt to consumer reporting agencies. The law bars medical creditors, debt collectors, and debt buyers from furnishing information about medical debt to credit bureaus, regardless of payment status or consumer repayment activity.
The new statute amends the Maine Fair Credit Reporting Act by replacing the term “medical expenses” with “medical debt” and eliminating carveouts that had previously allowed reporting in limited situations.
Putting It Into Practice: Maine’s statute comes just weeks after the CFPB formally withdrew its proposed rule that would have barred medical debt reporting nationwide (previously discussed here), and follows Vermont’s law that banned medical debt in consumer reporting statewide (previously discussed here). Companies operating in other jurisdictions should expect the trend to continue and plan accordingly.