Medical debt from New York providers can't show up on your credit report

An unpaid bill from a New York hospital, licensed health professional, or certified ambulance service can’t drag down your credit. Under the Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act, those providers can’t report covered medical debt to credit bureaus, and they must bar the collection agencies they hire from doing so. Credit reporting companies can’t include that debt in New Yorkers’ reports, no matter when it was incurred. If covered medical debt is reported anyway, that portion of the debt becomes void.

Lenders and landlords look at credit reports, so an emergency-room bill could once follow someone into a car-loan or apartment application. The law’s protection applies automatically. If covered medical debt appears anyway, the New York Attorney General advises disputing it with the credit-reporting company. Charges on an ordinary credit card and bills from providers outside New York are not covered; cards or loans offered specifically for medical care can qualify.

Sen. Gustavo Rivera and Assemblymember Amy Paulin sponsored the bill, and Gov. Kathy Hochul signed it on December 13, 2023. It took effect immediately, making New York the second state, after Colorado, to keep medical debt off credit reports. It had support from both parties: the Senate passed it 50–8, with 10 Republicans joining every Democrat present.