{"id":2110,"date":"2017-04-11T13:02:13","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T17:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/resources\/medical-debt-malpractice-12\/"},"modified":"2022-08-06T07:37:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T11:37:44","slug":"medical-debt-malpractice","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/resources\/medical-debt-malpractice\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical Debt Malpractice"},"featured_media":16000,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[146],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"resource_type":[64],"region_tax":[],"state":[12,13,18,25,28,29,2,32,33,38,42],"topic_tax":[120],"class_list":["post-2110","resource","type-resource","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[120],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":64,"event_type":false,"campaigns":146,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[2,12,13,18,25,28,29,32,33,38,42],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":120}},"subtitle":"Consumer Complaints About Medical Debt Collectors, and How the CFPB Can Help","excerpt":"Millions of Americans are contacted by debt collectors every year over debt related to medical expenses. \"Medical Debt Malpractice\" is the latest (9th) in our series based on analysis of complaints in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's public complaint database. The report demonstrates that the CFPB is a critical agency protecting consumers against unfair financial practices and needs to be defended against special interest attacks.","featured_image":16000,"caption_override":"","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":null,"related_event":null,"hide_hero_image":false,"location":"","external_link":{"publication_name":"","url":""},"file":null,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":null},"helper_downloads":{"title":"Downloads","files":[{"file":100000000016001,"title":"Medical Debt Malpractice Report April 2017 (pdf)"}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

(You can also link to a 2-page fact sheet<\/a> based on the report.)<\/p>\n

Executive Summary<\/h1>\n

Millions of Americans are contacted by debt collectors every year over debt related to medical expenses.<\/p>\n

Medical debt collectors often employ aggressive tactics and attempt to collect debt from the wrong customers \u2013 putting consumers' credit records at risk. Medical debt accounts for more than half of all collection items that appear on consumer credit reports. A review of 17,701 medical debt collection complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) shows that problems with medical debt collection are widespread and harm Americans across the country.<\/p>\n

Complaints submitted to the CFPB suggest that many consumers contacted about medical debt should not have been contacted in the first place, and that many contacts involve aggressive or inappropriate tactics.<\/p>\n