State Rep. Karl Bohnak today secured the passage of his comprehensive plan to help Michigan families struggling under the growing weight of medical debt, ensuring greater transparency, fairness and protection for patients across the state. The legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.
“No one sees a medical emergency coming. We can’t predict car accidents, cancer diagnoses, or other tragic accidents, and these chance occurrences shouldn’t mean a lifetime of abuse from predatory medical debt collectors,” said Bohnak, R-Deerton. “Our plan tackles the problem head on and ensures that unavoidable medical debt never means the end of someone’s financial stability.”
House Bills 6071-6073 would establish new standards for hospital financial assistance, strengthen oversight and accountability, and shield patients from long-term financial harm tied to medical bills.
The proposal would require all hospitals in Michigan to maintain robust financial assistance programs to help patients who cannot afford care. These programs would be based on income and financial need, ensuring support reaches those who need it most. Hospitals would also be required to clearly communicate available assistance options to patients before bills are sent to collections, improving transparency and access to relief.
“By requiring the highest quality financial assistance programs, we’re ensuring that people facing unimaginable hardship have access to the quality resources they need to begin moving forward,” Bohnak said. “Our legislation also protects people from unexpectedly and often shockingly having their medical debt sent to collections. Those recovering from serious illness or injury should be focused on getting better; a shady debt collector knocking on their door doesn’t help anyone and instead just continues to feed corporate greed.”
In addition to expanding access to financial assistance, the legislation would crack down on predatory debt collection practices used on Michigan families. The plan prohibits debt collectors from falsely threatening to report someone’s debt and expressly requires debt collectors to disclose their inability to report medical debt information. The plan also bars medical creditors from reporting debt to credit agencies, ensuring unexpected health emergencies don’t lead to lifelong poor credit.
The legislation also enhances oversight by requiring hospitals to report data on their financial assistance programs to the state, ensuring transparency and public accountability. Any penalties collected from violations would be directed toward efforts to further relieve medical debt for Michigan residents.
Bohnak also supported another medical debt package, HB 5254-55, that would cap interest rates on medical debt, prohibit other aggressive collection tactics such as wage garnishment and home foreclosures tied to medical bills, and implement other consumer protections.
The legislation now moves to the state Senate for further consideration.
BY-Luke Froncheck
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