WASHINGTON–CFPB Director Rohit Chopra will participate in two virtual public events today called “Ask My Anything” related to medical debt.
The events will allow Americans to discuss their experiences with medical debt directly with the CFPB, the Bureau stated.
In announcing the events, the CFPB said 15-million Americans are carrying approximately $49 billion in outstanding medical bills in collections appearing in the credit reporting system.
“The complex nature of medical billing, insurance coverage and reimbursement, and collections means that medical debts that continue to be reported are often inaccurate or inflated,” the CFPB said.
New CFPB Proposal
As reported earlier, in June the CFPB proposed a rule that it said would remove medical bills from most credit reports, increase privacy protections, help to increase credit scores and loan approvals, and prevent debt collectors from using the credit reporting system to coerce people to pay.
The proposal also seeks to stop credit reporting companies from sharing medical debts with lenders and prohibit lenders from making lending decisions based on medical information.
The Events
The events in which Chopra will be participating today include:
- From 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. ET, Chopra will lead a virtual public forum on medical debt. Members of the public will be able to give testimonials about their experiences with medical debt and credit reporting. The forum will be held on the WebEx platform and is open to all members of the public who register to attend. RSVP here.
- At 3:00 p.m. ET, Chopra will also participate in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) to discuss the CFPB’s proposed rule to ban medical bills on credit reports. A Reddit AMA is an interactive way to allow online participants to ask question about anything and everything related to the host topic, the CFPB said. The AMA will be held on r/IAmA and Chopra will be commenting from the CFPB’s Reddit username, u/CFPB. No RSVP is necessary to participate.