Federal cuts renew push for MA medical debt protections | Commonwealth News Service

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering legislation to better protect residents struggling with medical debt. Despite having the highest insurance coverage rate in the nation, one in eight people in the state carry debt from medical expenses.

Marcella Lampon, policy and project coordinator for the advocacy organization Health Care for All Massachusetts, said that group says no one should be left in financial ruin simply for getting sick.

“People in Massachusetts are cutting into their savings, they’re taking out other loans or other types of debt, like credit card debt, to pay off their medical bills,” she said, “and in some severe cases, they’re even filing for bankruptcy.”

The bill would ban medical debt from consumer credit reports, prevent debt collectors from selling medical debt to other agencies and exempt certain properties from seizure. Lampon said medical debt is not a reflection of one’s creditworthiness, but a failure of the health care system at its core.

State officials are bracing for an increase in medical debt as federal policy changes raise health-care premiums and more people drop their plans. An estimated 300,000 people in the state could lose their Medicaid coverage due to strict new work requirements.

Lampon said medical debt often stops people from getting the preventive health care they need, and has even been linked to higher morbidity rates.

“In this moment where people are going to be losing insurance coverage,” she said, “it makes a lot of sense to take a pause – have this protection – while we’re also figuring out how to make sure people continue to have access to their health care.”

She noted the burden of medical debt also tends to fall on low- to moderate-income families, including 20% of Black residents in the state. At least 15 other states already have similar laws on the books. Massachusetts and New Hampshire are the only New England states lacking robust protections.

Read the article and listen to the radio story here.

Federal cuts renew push for MA medical debt protections | Commonwealth News Service | February 18, 2026

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