Medical debt and credit reports by state

Which states ban or limit reporting medical debt to credit bureaus, and who the state rule covers.

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StateState ruleWhat the state rule says
No state limit
Alabama law does not limit reporting medical debt to credit bureaus.
No state limit
Alaska has no state law that keeps medical debt off credit reports.
No state limit
Arizona has no state law limiting medical debt on credit reports.
No state limit
Arkansas has no state law that keeps medical debt off credit reports.
Full ban
No one may report a medical debt to a credit bureau. If someone knowingly does, the debt becomes void and cannot be collected.
Partial limit
A credit bureau may not include in a credit report any negative information it knows or should know is about medical debt.
Full ban
No health care provider or company that buys or collects medical debt may report any part of a medical debt to a credit bureau.
Full ban
No one may report any medical debt to a credit bureau, and a credit bureau may not include medical debt in a credit report when it knows or should know about it.
No state limit
D.C. has no ban in force today on reporting medical debt to credit bureaus. Under the Medical Debt Mitigation Amendment Act of 2026, once it applies, health care providers and debt collectors may not report the amount or existence of any medical debt to a credit bureau.
Partial limit
Reporting you to a credit bureau is an extraordinary collection action. A hospital or surgery center may not do it (or other such actions) before it checks whether you qualify for financial assistance and decides any application, before it sends you an itemized statement or bill, during a billing grievance or an insurance claim appeal, before it bills your insurer and the insurer decides the claim, within 30 days after it notifies you in writing by certified mail or another traceable method that collection will start, or while you negotiate the final bill in good faith or keep to a payment plan with the facility.
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No state limit
Hawaii has no state law limiting medical debt on credit reports.
Partial limit
Under the Idaho Patient Act, reporting a medical bill to a credit bureau is an "extraordinary collection action." No one may report it unless the provider billed your insurer (or you) within 45 days, you got the required summary of services and a final notice, and at least 90 days have passed since you received the later of those notices and all insurance appeals and good faith disputes are finished.
Full ban
A credit bureau may not make a credit report that contains adverse information it knows or should know is about medical debt or a collection action for medical debt, and may not keep information about your medical debt in your file.
No state limit
Indiana has no state law limiting medical debt on credit reports.
No state limit
Iowa has no state law that keeps medical debt off credit reports.
No state limit
Kansas has no state law limiting medical debt on credit reports.
No state limit
State law has no rule limiting medical debt on credit reports.
No state limit
Louisiana law does not limit reporting medical debt to credit bureaus.
Full ban
A credit bureau may not put medical debt on your credit report, and a health care provider you owe, a debt collector or a debt buyer may not report your medical debt to a credit bureau.
Full ban
A person whose main business is providing medical services, products or devices, or that person's agent or assignee, may not report any part of a medical debt to a credit bureau, and contracts with collectors or debt buyers must forbid it.
No state limit
Massachusetts does not currently have a law that keeps medical debt off credit reports. The Department of Public Health has proposed a rule that would bar licensed health care facilities and providers, and collectors working for them, from reporting medical debt to credit bureaus.
No state limit
Michigan has no state law that keeps medical debt off credit reports.
Full ban
No one collecting a medical debt may report it to a credit bureau, and a credit bureau may not include information it knows or should know is about medical debt in a credit report.
No state limit
Mississippi law does not limit reporting medical debt to credit bureaus.
No state limit
Missouri does not have a state law that keeps medical debt off credit reports.
No state limit
Montana has no state law limiting medical debt on credit reports.
No state limit
State law has no rule limiting medical debt on credit reports.
Partial limit
A collection agency must mail you a notice at least 60 days before it takes any action to collect a medical debt, and may not report the debt to a credit bureau during those 60 days (since July 1, 2021).
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Partial limit
A health care provider or medical debt collector may not report your medical debt to a credit bureau for care received on or after July 22, 2024.
No state limit
New Mexico has no state law limiting medical debt on credit reports.
Full ban
Hospitals, licensed health care professionals and ambulance services may not report any part of a medical debt to a credit bureau, and their contracts with collectors and debt buyers must forbid it.
No state limit
North Carolina has no state law that keeps medical debt off credit reports. Hospitals taking part in the state's Medicaid hospital payment program (HASP) have agreed not to report medical debt to credit agencies; this is a program condition, not a law.
No state limit
State law has no rule limiting medical debt on credit reports.
No state limit
Ohio law has no rule limiting medical debt on credit reports.
No state limit
Oklahoma has no general state law limiting medical debt on credit reports. If a court finds that a hospital was materially out of compliance with Oklahoma's hospital price-posting law on the date of your care, the hospital must remove any credit report it made about that debt.
Full ban
No one may report the amount or existence of an Oregon resident's medical debt to a credit bureau, and credit bureaus may not include an item they know or should know is medical debt.
No state limit
Pennsylvania has no state law that keeps medical debt off credit reports.
Full ban
Health care providers, licensed health care facilities and certified emergency medical transportation services may not give any part of a medical debt to a credit bureau, and their contracts with collectors and debt buyers must ban reporting.
No state limit
South Carolina law does not limit reporting medical debt to credit bureaus.
No state limit
South Dakota has no state law that keeps medical debt off credit reports.
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Partial limit
A credit bureau may not include a medical collection account in your credit report if you had health coverage when you got care and the bill is the balance (after copays, deductibles and coinsurance) owed to an emergency care provider or a facility-based provider for an out-of-network claim.
No state limit
Utah has no state law limiting medical debt on credit reports.
Full ban
Credit bureaus may not report or keep information about a medical debt in your credit file. Hospitals, their clinics, ambulatory surgical centers and medical debt collectors may not report any part of a medical debt to a credit bureau.
Full ban
Hospitals and other medical care facilities, licensed health professionals and ambulance agencies may not report any part of a medical debt to a credit bureau.
Full ban
Medical debt may not appear on a credit report in Washington. Credit bureaus may not include it, hospitals and the doctors who work with them may not report it, and collection agencies may not report it.
No state limit
West Virginia has no state law that keeps medical debt off credit reports. When a debt is too old to sue on, a collector's letters must say whether it can still be reported to credit bureaus.
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No state limit
Wyoming has no state law that keeps medical debt off credit reports.