Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson commended the Minnesota Legislature for its passage of legislation that will protect the privacy of patient medical debt information and ensure that health care decisions are not based on medical debt scoring in Minnesota.Swanson thanked the authors of the legislation for their leadership, including chief authors Senator Linda Scheid and Representative Diane Loeffler. Swanson announced the legislation in a Jan. 18, 2008 op-ed critical of the practice.
“Health care debt is fundamentally different from any other consumer purchase because people do not choose to get sick. Patients should not be treated by a different standard based upon their income or medical debt history,” said Swanson.
There is reportedly a growing trend across the nation by some data companies and insurers to utilize ‘medical debt scores’ to determine a patient’s ability to pay. Consumer advocates, such as Swanson, have responded that such medical debt scoring, if unchecked, will undoubtedly lead to the rationing of health care, further exacerbating the health care crisis in America by denying access to care for many patients.
“This bill protects patient financial and medical debt history from new technology to ensure that patients are treated fairly under our health care system in Minnesota,” said Senator Linda Scheid.
“Patients want to know that their doctor is recommending the best care for their health problem. This bill will make sure that their financial information is not accessed prior to treatment so it can’t influence what care is recommended,” said Representative Diane Loeffler.
Medical debt is reportedly the leading cause of bankruptcy in America.
Swanson noted that many consumers are currently being financially squeezed by a troubled economy, job loss, rising fuel prices and resetting adjustable rate mortgage payments in addition to skyrocketing medical debt, and that this is no time to begin pushing health care out of reach from even more Minnesotans.
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