Bill > H347

This bill aims to alleviate the burden of medical debt for patients and families. The key provisions include: 1. Prohibiting certain "extraordinary collection actions" by medical creditors or debt collectors, such as causing a patient's arrest, foreclosing on their real property, or reporting adverse information to consumer reporting agencies until at least 180 days after the first bill has been sent. 2. Requiring medical creditors or debt collectors to provide a 30-day notice before initiating any extraordinary collection actions. 3. Prohibiting medical creditors or debt collectors from taking certain actions if they know or should know that an internal, external, or other appeal of a health insurance decision is pending. 4. Limiting interest on medical debt to the lesser of 3% or the weekly average one-year constant maturity treasury yield. 5. Exempting certain personal property, such as homestead, cash savings, wages, and vehicles, from seizure on execution for medical debt. The bill would apply to consumer medical debts incurred and contracts that take effect or are renewed on or after January 1, 2024, and would take effect on October 1, 2023.