12-10-25 Medical Debt Bill INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Debt collectors could face limits on how much they could collect from medical debtors under legislation a Senate panel discussed Wednesday. State lawmakers have been negotiating for more than a year over how to address Indiana’s rising medi cal debts. The latest proposal from Sens. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, and Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, would require hospitals to offer a payment plan to any patients who make less than 400% of the federal poverty level, currently about $128,000 per year for a family of four. In addition, debt collectors would not be able to take more than 10% of a person’s paycheck as a wage garnishment for medical debt. Wages could not be garnished at all if the person makes less than 200% of the federal poverty level. Collectors also could not levy tax liens against a person’s primary residence. The measure would only apply to debts incurred from medically necessary procedures. Patient care advocates said Indiana patients alone face roughly $2 billion in medical debt. Dave Almeda, government affairs director for Blood Cancer United, said his organization has surveyed cancer patients on how medical debt influences their decisions. “They told us they were making treatment decisions based on the medical debt that they had. And I will tell you, those decisions were not conducive to good health outcomes,” Almeda said. “They were foregoing treatment. They were not going back to the same providers where they owed money. Medical debt had become an impediment to them getting better treatment.” Debt collectors said the bill has too many loopholes. Richard Rainho, of the American Collectors Association International, said numerous protections already exist, including chapter 7 bankruptcy, which discharges all medical debts. He said he fears people would use the proposed regulations as an excuse to not pay their bills. “There’s no consequence for nonpayment, regardless of inability to pay, and it really shifts the costs to responsible patients,” Rainho said. “Who really pays? The uncollectable debt doesn’t just disappear. Hospitals are going to have to increase their costs, insurance premiums are going to rise.” The Senate Health and Provider Services Committee did not vote on the measure Wednesday. Qaddoura said he plans to continue working on it between now and when lawmakers reconvene in early January. ...read more read less