Credit reporting bureaus announced in April that they would start taking most medical debt off of people’s credit reports. At first, we weren’t sure that would be such a huge deal. After all, the medical debt would still exist, people would still get harassed by debt collectors, or even sued over it. 


But it turns out, there’s a bunch of reasons why these changes could be life-changing, and we want to give credit (the good kind) where it’s due. 


The changes include:
Paid-off medical debt disappears from credit reports on July 1, 2022
Debts under $500 (even if you haven’t paid them) come off reports in March 2023
Medical bills under $500 that you received after March 1, 2022 should will never be counted on your credit report
No medical bills – of any size– will appear on your credit report until they’re at least a year old, starting July 1, 2022




Plus, some an end to some games debt collectors can play with your credit score. 


Here’s a transcript of this episode.

Subscribe to our newsletter, First Aid Kit.

Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG

And of course we’d love for you to support this show.

Credit reporting bureaus announced in April that they would start taking most medical debt off of people’s credit reports. At first, we weren’t sure that would be such a huge deal. After all, the medical debt would still exist, people would still get harassed by debt collectors, or even sued over it. But it turns out, there’s a bunch of reasons why these changes could be life-changing, and we want to give credit (the good kind) where it’s due.&nbsp; The changes include:<ul><li>Paid-off medical debt disappears from credit reports on July 1, 2022</li><li>Debts under $500 (even if you haven’t paid them) come off reports in March 2023</li><li>Medical bills under $500 that you received after March 1, 2022 should will never be counted on your credit report</li><li>No medical bills – of any size– will appear on your credit report until they’re at least a year old, starting July 1, 2022</li></ul> Plus, some an end to some games debt collectors can play with your credit score.&nbsp; Here’s a&nbsp;<a href="https://armandalegshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/WEB-TRANSCRIPT_S7-Ep5-Credit-Where-due-May-20.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">transcript of this episode</a>.<a href="https://firstaidkit.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Subscribe to our newsletter, First Aid Kit.</a>Send your stories and questions:&nbsp;<a href="https://armandalegshow.com/contact/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://armandalegshow.com/contact/</a>&nbsp;or call 724 ARM-N-LEGAnd of course we’d love for you to&nbsp;<a href="https://armandalegshow.com/match/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">support this show</a>.

An Arm and a Leg is a podcast about why health care costs so freaking much and what we can (maybe) do about it.

If you’ve ever been surprised by a medical bill, you’re in good company. But as our team of seasoned journalists has learned from years of reporting — you’re not always helpless. We don’t have all the answers, but we’ll offer you tools and big picture insights with plenty of humor and heart. 

An Arm and a Leg is co-produced with KFF Health News and distributed in partnership with KUOW.

You can support An Arm and a Leg by donating at armandalegshow.com/support/

Show Credits: Created, hosted, and produced by Dan Weissmann with senior producer Emily Pisacreta and engagement producer Claire Davenport, edited by Ellen Weiss. Audio wizard: Adam Raymonda. Music is by Dave Weiner and Blue Dot Sessions. Bea Bosco is our consulting director of operations. Lynne Johnson is our operations manager.

An Arm and a Leg&nbsp;is a podcast about why health care costs so freaking much and what we can (maybe) do about it.
If you&rsquo;ve ever been surprised by a medical bill, you&rsquo;re in good company. But as our team of seasoned journalists has learned from years of reporting &mdash; you&rsquo;re not always helpless. We don&rsquo;t have all the answers, but we&rsquo;ll offer you tools and big picture insights with plenty of humor and heart.&nbsp;
An Arm and a Leg is co-produced with <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/">KFF Health News</a> and distributed in partnership with <a href="https://www.kuow.org/">KUOW</a>.
You can support An Arm and a Leg&nbsp;by donating at <a href="https://armandalegshow.com/support/">armandalegshow.com/support/</a>
<hr>
Show Credits:&nbsp;Created, hosted, and produced by Dan Weissmann with senior producer Emily Pisacreta and engagement producer Claire Davenport, edited by Ellen Weiss. Audio wizard: Adam Raymonda. Music is by Dave Weiner and Blue Dot Sessions. Bea Bosco is our consulting director of operations. Lynne Johnson is our operations manager.

An Arm and a Leg

A lot of medical debt will be coming off of credit reports. We weren’t convinced it was such a big deal. Turns out, we were wrong

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