In the final days of its tenure, the Biden administration has banned credit reporting agencies from including medical debts in their reports, aiming to make it easier for people to access credit, including loans and mortgages.

“No one should be denied economic opportunity because they got sick or experienced a medical emergency,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a White House statement announcing the new rule Tuesday.

The administration first proposed the rule in June 2024, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued the final ruling today.

The new rule is part of a constellation of federal, state, and local strategies, stretching back to the Obama administration, to reduce the burden of medical debt on Americans. Advocates hail the change as an important step, but its effects may not be as significant as the administration hopes. And with Republicans already speaking out against it, it’s possible the rule might be reversed or not enforced at all.

How the ban — and medical debt reporting — works

It’s up to individual medical providers whether they report debt to credit agencies. The information in that report is then used to calculate a person’s credit score, which helps lenders like banks determine how likely a person is to pay off debt they accrue. The idea to remove medical debt from credit reports isn’t new. In 2023,

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