From a distressing but not unexpected article in The New York Times:

• According to the American Medical Association’s 2011 National Health Insurer Report Card, commercial health insurers processed 19.3 percent of claims erroneously in 2011, up from 17.3 percent in 2010.
• In 2010, an estimated 9.2 million people aged 19 to 64 were contacted by a collection agency because of a billing mistake according to the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group, while 30 million were contacted by a collection agency because of an unpaid medical bill.
• Medical providers collected no more than 8 percent of their revenue from patients about 10 years ago. Now it is closer to 20 percent, or even 30 percent, in some markets.

Rodney Anderson, a mortgage banker in Plano, Tex., said he started to notice in 2008 that more of his customers were being hurt by these medical delinquencies. So he kept notes on 5,100 loan applicants over 10 months. He found that 2,200 had at least one medical debt that lowered their credit score, and many of them were unaware of the damage.

“It’s the same thing over and over,” said Mr. Anderson, executive director of Supreme Lending. “You just don’t let $100 go to collections to ruin your credit.”

That prompted him to take the issue to Congress. He said he had spent $1.5 million of his own money on consultants and on lobbying to change the rules. And his efforts, along with those of consumer groups and others, have gotten lawmakers’ attention.

A version of the Medical Debt Responsibility Act, which would erase medical debts from credit reports within 45 days of being settled or paid, was approved by the House with bipartisan support in 2010. The bill was reintroduced in the Senate by Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, in March. Read more…