(a) (1) In this section, “medical debt” means debt owed by a consumer to:
(i) A person whose primary business is providing medical services, products, or devices; or
(ii) The person’s agent or assignee for the provision of medical services, products, or devices.
(2) “Medical debt” includes medical bills that:
(i) Are not past due; or
(ii) Have already been paid.
(3) “Medical debt” does not include debt charged to a credit card unless the credit card is issued under an open–end or closed–end credit plan offered solely for the payment of health care services.
(b) (1) A consumer reporting agency may not:
(i) Make, create, or furnish any consumer report containing, incorporating, or reflecting:
1. Any adverse information that the consumer reporting agency knows or should know relates to medical debt incurred by the consumer; or
2. Any collection action against a consumer to collect medical debt; or
(ii) Maintain in a file on a consumer any information relating to:
1. Medical debt incurred by the consumer; or
2. Any collection action against the consumer to collect medical debt.
(2) The prohibitions established under paragraph (1) of this subsection apply regardless of when medical debt was incurred by a consumer.
(c) A person may not use medical debt information included in a consumer report to make a determination regarding the creditworthiness of the consumer.