CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One in three Americans have skipped or delayed going to the doctor in the past five years, according to a recent survey.
The survey, which was conducted by MDVIP, a network of physicians across the U.S., discovered that many people don't visit the doctor so they don't get stuck with an expensive bill they can't pay. A 2022 report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that 20% of Americans struggle with medical debt.
But not all debt is equal, and ConsumerAffairs says people shouldn't worry about how medical bills will affect their credit score.
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The good news is that medical debt is much different than just racking up your credit card bill with shopping sprees. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has worked with several credit reporting agencies to ensure those bills aren't reflected on your score, ConsumerAffairs reports.
Here’s what the credit unions promise to do when a person has medical debt:
- Remove paid-off medical bills from consumers’ credit reports.
- Remove medical debt under $500 from credit reports.
- Delay posting medical bills to credit reports by one year to give consumers time to pay their bills
This is why ConsumerAffairs says people should always check their credit report. Just because you receive an official credit report, doesn’t mean all of the information in it is correct.
When you’re looking at your credit report, the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, which advocates to protect consumers, says people should note the following:
- Do you recognize and/or owe all of the medical bills that are listed on your credit report? Keep an eye out for incorrect bills listed as you shouldn’t be responsible for those.
- If you owe less than $500 in medical bills, that shouldn’t be listed on your credit report.
- Any medical debt that you’ve paid should be removed from your credit report immediately.
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