9 bills that limit how medical debt shows up on credit reports became law in 2025 and 2026, in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Rhode Island passed two identical companion bills. Two more enacted bills touch the subject only narrowly: Nevada’s AB343 stops hospitals that broke price-transparency rules from reporting debt from that period, and California’s AB1521 changes wording in a ban the state already had.
We found 52 bills in 26 states and D.C. in 2025–26 sessions that would limit medical debt on credit reports, plus 6 bills in Congress. None of the bills in Congress has passed either chamber.
The federal rule is gone
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a rule in January 2025 that would have barred most medical debt from credit reports used by lenders. On July 11, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the rule, at the joint request of the CFPB and the plaintiffs. In October 2025 the CFPB issued an interpretive rule saying the Fair Credit Reporting Act generally preempts state laws in broad areas of credit reporting, and that its earlier view that states can keep categories such as medical debt off reports was wrong. An interpretive rule does not bind courts, and how it applies to the state laws below has not been settled.
Enacted in 2025–26
| Jurisdiction | Bill | Status | Last action | What it does (our summary) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | AB1521 | Enacted | 2025-10-01 | Technical: a broad clean-up bill that changes wording in California's existing ban on furnishing medical debt to credit reporting agencies (Civil Code 1785.27), which was already law. Chapter 200, Statutes of 2025. |
| Delaware | SB156 | Enacted | 2025-07-29 | Medical creditors and collectors may not report a medical debt to a consumer reporting agency until 1 year after the first bill (or 3 months after the latest payment-plan payment, if later) and must send one more bill first. Also sets other medical debt collection rules. |
| District of Columbia | B26-0438 | Enacted | 2026-08-28 | Bars health care providers and debt collectors from reporting medical debt to consumer reporting agencies, among other limits on medical debt collection. Law L26-0172, effective August 20, 2026. The FY2027 Budget Support Act (B26-0661, effective October 2, 2026) repealed the section that made the law apply only once it was funded. |
| Maine | LD558 | Enacted | 2025-06-02 | Bars consumer reporting agencies from reporting medical debt, and bars medical creditors, debt collectors and debt buyers from reporting it to them. Approved June 9, 2025 (Public Law 2025, chapter 201). |
| Maryland | HB1020 | Enacted | 2025-04-22 | Bars consumer reporting agencies from including medical debt or medical-debt collection actions in consumer reports, whenever the debt was incurred, and bars using medical debt on a report to judge creditworthiness. Chapter 121 of 2025. |
| Nevada | AB343 | Enacted | 2025-06-03 | Narrow: a hospital that was out of compliance with price-transparency rules may not collect medical debt from that period, including by directly or indirectly causing it to be reported to a credit reporting agency. Chapter 247 of 2025. |
| Oregon | SB605 | Enacted | 2025-06-23 | Bars any person from reporting the amount or existence of a medical debt owed by an Oregon resident to a consumer reporting agency. Chapter 343, 2025 Laws; effective January 1, 2026. |
| Rhode Island | H5184 | Enacted | 2025-06-26 | Bars credit bureau reporting of a consumer's medical debt and limits liens on a home for judgments based on medical debt. Effective January 1, 2026. Companion of S0169. |
| Rhode Island | S0169 | Enacted | 2025-06-26 | Companion bill to H5184, with the same text as passed. |
| Vermont | S0027 | Enacted | 2025-05-16 | Bars credit reporting agencies from reporting or keeping medical debt information in a consumer's file. Also funds a $1 million program to buy and cancel medical debt and have it removed from credit reports. Act 21 of 2025. |
| Washington | SB5480 | Enacted | 2025-04-22 | Makes a medical debt void and unenforceable if it is furnished to a consumer credit reporting agency, and adds medical debt to the items consumer reports may not include. Chapter 145, 2025 Laws; effective July 27, 2025. |
Other bills, 2025–26
Status is as LegiScan records it. Many bills still listed as "Introduced" are in sessions that have ended and did not pass.
| Jurisdiction | Bill | Status | Last action | What it does (our summary) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | HB178 | Introduced | 2025-05-09 | Would limit medical debt on credit reports and bar discrimination based on medical debt. |
| California | AB2123 | Introduced | 2026-05-14 | Would bar hospitals and later owners of a patient's debt from reporting adverse information to credit agencies in certain cases, as part of a wider medical debt bill. |
| California | AB2746 | Introduced | 2026-04-23 | Would bar credit reports from including medical credit card debt for purchases at hospitals, pharmacies and other providers. |
| Florida | H1271 | Failed | 2026-03-13 | Would add furnishing medical debt information to a consumer reporting agency to a list of prohibited collection actions. |
| Florida | H1489 | Failed | 2026-03-13 | Would bar medical debt information from being included in consumer reports or reported to consumer reporting agencies. |
| Hawaii | HB2187 | Engrossed | 2026-03-10 | Would bar providers from furnishing medical debt to credit reporting agencies and bar the agencies from reporting it. |
| Hawaii | SB2277 | Engrossed | 2026-03-19 | Narrow: hospitals out of compliance with price-transparency rules could not cause a debt to be reported to a consumer reporting agency. |
| Hawaii | SB3026 | Introduced | 2026-01-30 | Companion of HB2187. |
| Illinois | SB3259 | Introduced | 2026-03-26 | Would make it an unlawful practice to use medical debt on a credit report in a credit decision or to furnish medical debt to a credit reporting agency. |
| Indiana | HB1051 | Introduced | 2025-12-05 | Would bar health care providers from reporting health care debt of Indiana residents to consumer reporting agencies. |
| Kansas | HB2736 | Introduced | 2026-02-19 | Would bar hospitals from reporting a patient's debt to a credit bureau until they confirm the patient is not eligible for financial assistance. |
| Maine | LD1030 | Failed | 2025-04-08 | Would have changed how medical debt is reported on consumer reports. |
| Maryland | SB614 | Engrossed | 2025-04-05 | Companion of HB1020, which became law. |
| Michigan | HB4329 | Introduced | 2025-04-22 | Would bar consumer reporting agencies from including some medical debt information in reports. |
| Michigan | HB6073 | Engrossed | 2026-06-25 | Would bar consumer reporting agencies from including some medical debt information in reports. |
| Michigan | SB0451 | Engrossed | 2026-06-17 | Would bar consumer reporting agencies from including some medical debt information in reports. |
| New Mexico | HB263 | Introduced | 2025-02-15 | Narrow: hospitals out of compliance with price-transparency rules could not cause a debt to be reported to a consumer reporting agency. |
| New York | A03580 | Introduced | 2026-01-07 | Medical debt relief pilot. Hospitals that reported a cancelled debt would have to tell the credit agencies so it is removed. |
| New York | S01857 | Introduced | 2026-02-09 | Senate version of A03580. |
| New York | S07479 | Introduced | 2025-04-17 | Among other limits, a hospital that brings a barred collection action would have to remove any related credit report entry. |
| New York | S09711 | Introduced | 2026-04-02 | Similar to S07479. |
| North Carolina | S672 | Introduced | 2025-03-26 | Would bar medical creditors and collectors from reporting medical debt to consumer reporting agencies. |
| North Carolina | S976 | Introduced | 2026-05-05 | Would bar hospitals and surgical centers from reporting an unpaid bill to a credit reporting agency until it is at least 180 days past due. |
| Ohio | HB257 | Introduced | 2025-05-07 | Would bar reporting medical debt to a consumer reporting agency and cap interest on medical debt. |
| Oklahoma | HB1709 | Introduced | 2026-02-03 | Would bar reporting of debt from Oklahoma medical facilities on consumer reports. Carried over from 2025. |
| South Carolina | H3241 | Introduced | 2025-01-14 | Would bar reporting of medical debt information on consumer reports. |
| South Carolina | H4149 | Introduced | 2025-03-05 | Would bar creditors and collectors from reporting debt from South Carolina medical facilities, and bar its inclusion on consumer reports. |
| Tennessee | HB0223 | Introduced | 2025-03-12 | Would bar consumer reports from including medical debt judgments filed in Tennessee. |
| Tennessee | HB0539 | Introduced | 2025-02-05 | Would bar providers from reporting medical debt to consumer reporting agencies and bar the agencies from including it. |
| Tennessee | HB1859 | Introduced | 2026-03-11 | Medical debt relief program; debt bought and repaid would be removed from credit reports. |
| Tennessee | SB0230 | Introduced | 2025-02-10 | Senate version of HB0223. |
| Tennessee | SB0402 | Introduced | 2026-01-20 | Senate version of HB0539. |
| Tennessee | SB1598 | Failed | 2026-03-03 | Senate version of HB1859. |
| Texas | HB2478 | Introduced | 2025-03-17 | Would limit reporting of medically necessary debt on consumer reports. |
| Texas | HB880 | Introduced | 2025-03-06 | Would limit reporting of medically necessary debt on consumer reports. |
| Texas | SB1000 | Introduced | 2025-02-13 | Would limit reporting of medically necessary debt on consumer reports. |
| Vermont | H0112 | Introduced | 2025-01-28 | Would exclude medical debt from credit reports and fund medical debt relief. |
| Vermont | S0083 | Introduced | 2025-02-25 | Would bar credit reporting agencies from reporting or keeping medical debt information in a consumer's file. |
| Washington | HB1632 | Introduced | 2026-01-12 | Would make a medical debt void if furnished to a credit reporting agency. Similar to SB5480, which became law. |
| Wisconsin | AB50 | Failed | 2026-03-23 | Governor's budget bill. Would have limited reporting medical debt in collections to credit agencies. The budget that became law (SB45) did not include it. |
| Wyoming | HB0195 | Failed | 2025-03-03 | Would have barred reporting medical debt to credit reporting agencies. |
| Congress | HB4827 | Introduced | 2025-07-29 | Would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to bar medical debt from consumer reports. |
| Congress | HB9639 | Introduced | 2026-07-21 | Broad credit reporting bill. Section 103 would bar medical debt from consumer reports. |
| Congress | HB9670 | Introduced | 2026-07-14 | Would keep bankruptcies of medically distressed debtors off consumer reports. |
| Congress | SB2519 | Introduced | 2025-07-29 | Senate version of HB4827. |
| Congress | SB4622 | Introduced | 2026-05-21 | Would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to bar medical debt from consumer reports. |
| Congress | SB4972 | Introduced | 2026-07-14 | Senate version of HB9670. |
How we built this list
We searched the full text of all 2025 and 2026 bills in LegiScan for "medical debt" together with "credit report", "consumer report" or "credit reporting", which returned 91 bills. We then read each bill’s latest text. We kept only bills that would bar or limit reporting medical debt to credit bureaus, including it in reports, or using it in credit decisions, or that would require removing it. We dropped bills that mention credit reports only in findings or background, budget bills without such a provision, and bills about other subjects. Companion bills are listed separately. The summaries are ours and are short; read the bill text before relying on one. Some laws passed before 2025, such as New Jersey’s in 2024, are not listed. Bills that do not use these exact phrases would not appear in the search.
Source
Bill status, history and texts: LegiScan, data from LegiScan LLC licensed under CC BY 4.0, retrieved through the LegiScan API on October 17, 2026. We selected bills and wrote the summaries. Federal rule: CFPB, Prohibition on Creditors and Consumer Reporting Agencies Concerning Medical Information (Regulation V), and Fair Credit Reporting Act; Preemption of State Laws, Federal Register, October 28, 2025. This is not legal advice. Our table is available under CC BY 4.0. Credit "My Credit Guide (mycreditguide.org)".
Steven Reynolds, "Medical Debt and Credit Reports: State Laws and Bills, 2025-26," My Credit Guide, October 17, 2026, https://mycreditguide.org/data/medical-debt-credit-report-laws/.