STATE HOUSE BILL COULD PAY OFF MEDICAL DEBT SENT TO COLLECTIONS

A bill is under consideration in the State House that would establish a program within the Pennsylvania health department to pay off medical debt balances that have been sent to collections.  A Penn State study of nearly 22 hundred first-time Pennsylvania moms with private insurance found 8.3% had childbirth bills sent to collections.  The study found these women were less likely to have a second child in the following two years compared to those who didn’t have debt in collections.