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Diabetes patient: Using medical debt for your credit score adds insult to injury

I never planned to amputate my toe.
Vacations, the future, meals — these are things many of us plan for. But most of us don’t plan for a medical emergency. That was the case for me when I had my toe amputated in October last year as a result of a complication from my diabetes.
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It took me three months to get back on my feet after surgery. There was nursing care for two months to help me walk again. I had some savings set aside, but nowhere close to cover the cost. Even with my insurance, this life-saving medical procedure left me with over $20,000 in debt. I lost my job during my leave of absence and I avoided doing necessary follow-up with doctors because I couldn’t afford additional care.
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I’ve been able to get my job back since then, but things are very tight financially and I lost my seniority in the national retail store I worked for. One of the biggest challenges is how the medical debt continues to follow me. The debt led to a huge drop in my credit score. Because of my surgery and the medical debt I incurred, my credit score dropped 60 points.
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The combination of this lower credit and income has meant I’m not eligible to rent a place of my own.
The impact of medical debt being included on my credit report is the very definition of adding insult to injury. It’s aged me. I already struggled to keep up with the cost of living to begin with, and now that struggle is even harder. There’s no money left over after paying my bills to pay off the medical debt or put money into my retirement fund.
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I know I’m not alone. Millions of Americans — like me — have had their credit scores impacted by medical debt. I support a rule change from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would ban medical bills from credit reports. It’s an important step toward recognizing that a health care setback should not result in financial ruin. This rule change will help millions of Americans rebuild their credit and regain financial stability, which will in turn help many Americans pay off their medical debt.
Medical debt is not a reflection of improper financial management; illness and injury can happen to any American, at any time. Many people who have medical debt did everything right — they had health insurance and built up savings for an emergency. And yet, with the high cost of health care, they have found themselves with unmanageable medical bills.
I believe if you work hard, you should be able to afford a good life. But for too many people, the impact of medical debt on credit scores is leading to barriers: from accessing low-interest loans, applying for jobs, to providing financial relief and peace of mind.
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I urge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make these changes so that no one has to suffer the added insult of having their medical debt impact their credit score.
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George Curlee lives in Garland. He is 50 years old.
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