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Medical debt disputes

Medical debt is the single most common reason people land in collections, and recent regulatory changes have shifted the rules in consumers' favor. Most medical collections shouldn't appear on your report at all anymore.

What's no longer on your report

Following actions by the three major credit bureaus and the CFPB:

• Paid medical collections — removed from credit reports.
• Medical collections under $500 — not reported.
• Medical collections under one year old — held off the report during a 12-month "grace" window.
• The CFPB has further proposed (and in some implementations finalized) rules removing all medical debt from consumer credit reports altogether. State of play changes; check the CFPB site directly for current scope: consumerfinance.gov.

If a paid medical collection or a sub-$500 medical collection is still showing on your report, that's a clear basis for a §611 dispute on accuracy grounds.

What's still reportable

Unpaid medical collections over $500 that are at least 12 months old can still appear on traditional reports. But they're subject to all the usual dispute paths:

• §809 validation. The collector must prove the debt is yours, in the amount claimed, with the right to collect. Medical billing is famously messy — codes, balance billing, insurance adjustments, facility vs physician separation — and a lot of medical collections fail validation.
• §611 accuracy disputes. Wrong balance, wrong service date, wrong dates of delinquency, wrong patient name (medical collections often misroute to similar-name patients).
• §623 furnisher disputes. Going directly to the collector rather than through the bureau, with full documentation.

The No Surprises Act intersection

The federal No Surprises Act prohibits "surprise" balance billing in specific circumstances — emergency services, services at in-network facilities by out-of-network providers, certain air ambulance services. Charges that violate the NSA aren't legitimate debts and should not be reported.

If you have a balance bill that you believe violates the NSA:

1. File a federal complaint at cms.gov/nosurprises/consumers.
2. Dispute the entry with the bureau under §611 with the NSA complaint as your supporting document.
3. Send the §809 validation letter to the collector citing the NSA violation as a reason validation fails.

State-level layers

Many states have their own medical billing transparency and consumer-protection laws on top of the NSA. CA, NY, TX, MA, CO, and WA have particularly strong frameworks. See state law variations.

For the related FAQ on debts you've already paid, see what if I already paid the debt.

Last updated 11 days ago.