Cutter, Jaquez Lewis Bill to Protect Consumers from Harmful Medical Billing Practices Earns Committee Approval

SB23-093 will cap interest rates on medical debt and provide critical protections for Coloradans 

DENVER, CO – Legislation sponsored by Senator Lisa Cutter, D-Jefferson County, and Senator Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont, that would provide Coloradans with additional consumer protections from high interest rates for medical debt and confusing debt collection practices that lead to long-lasting debt and financial instability, earned approval before the Senate Health & Human Services Committee today.

Debt incurred from medical costs can be financially devastating for patients. When combined with high interest rates and complicated collections practices, consumers may never be able to pay off their medical debt. According to a 2022 report from the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Coloradans overall held more than $1.3 billion in medical debt and over 12 percent of Coloradans have medical debt in collections. 

“Medical debt is crushing hardworking Colorado families and limiting their ability to live the American Dream,” Cutter said. “Folks dealing with illnesses or injuries should be focused on getting better instead of worrying about how their treatment will affect their credit score. I am proud to champion this bill that will create critical new consumer protections that will put a cap on interest rates, improve accountability for providers and debt collectors, and prevent thousands of Coloradans from falling into a tangled web of medical debt.” 

“Every day, Coloradans are forced to choose between paying for necessities like food, heat, or rent and life-saving medical care,” said Jaquez Lewis. “Increasing transparency, capping interest rates, and cracking down on deceptive trade practices will be a game changer for patients seeking life-saving health care. I’m pleased that Senate Bill 93 is moving forward and I look forward to fighting on behalf of the people of Colorado to bring down health care costs and ease the burden for those facing medically-incurred debt.”

SB23-093 establishes new protections for Colorado consumers burdened with medical debt by:

• Capping the medical debt interest rate at 3 percent to keep debt from spiraling to levels where a patient is unable to pay it off.  

• Pausing collections on medical debt as patients appeal their coverage and prohibiting reporting the debt to a consumer reporting agency until a certain amount of time after an individual fails to fulfill the terms of a payment plan.  

• Requiring medical debt creditors or debt collectors to verify total debt owed upon request by a patient and to provide a copy of a payment plan, thereby helping consumers know just how much to properly budget for debt payments. 

• Requiring a health care provider or health care facility to provide, upon request, an estimate of the total cost of medical services to a person who intends to self-pay for the service, helping these consumers better understand the cost of services. 

• Reinstating the attorney general’s authority to protect consumers from deceptive trade practices related to billing practices and surprise billing.

SB23-093 will now move to the Senate floor for further consideration. You can track the bill’s progress HERE.