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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4622 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4622
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit the inclusion of
medical debt on a consumer report, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 21, 2026
Mr. Kennedy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit the inclusion of
medical debt on a consumer report, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Americans from Treatment-
related Credit Harm Act'' or the ``PATCH Act''.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT.
(a) Medical Debt Defined.--Section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting
Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(bb) Medical Debt.--The term `medical debt' means a debt arising
from the receipt of medical services, products, or devices.''.
(b) Exclusion for Medical Debt.--
(1) In general.--Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit
Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by striking
paragraph (6) and inserting the following:
``(6)(A) Any adverse information related to a medical debt,
including a medical debt that was placed for collection, charged to
profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action.
``(B) Nothing in subparagraph (A) may be construed to prevent a
consumer reporting agency from collecting the information described in
that subparagraph.''.
(2) Technical and conforming amendments.--Section 604(g) of
the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681b(g)) is amended--
(A) in paragraph (1)--
(i) in the matter preceding subparagraph
(A), by striking ``(other than medical contact
information treated in the manner required
under section 605(a)(6))'';
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by adding ``or''
at the end;
(iii) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking
``; or'' and inserting a period; and
(iv) by striking subparagraph (C); and
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``(other than
medical information treated in the manner required
under section 605(a)(6))''.
SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF REGULATIONS RELATING TO PROHIBITIONS ON USE OF
MEDICAL DEBT INFORMATION.
(a) Definitions.--In this section, the terms ``credit'' and
``creditor'' have the meanings given those terms in section 702 of the
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691a).
(b) Requirement.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial
Protection shall amend section 1022.30 of title 12, Code of Federal
Regulations, or any successor regulation, to ensure that creditors are
prohibited from obtaining or using information relating to the medical
debt of a consumer in determining whether or not to extend credit to
that consumer.
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