Democrats introduce bill to block wage garnishment for medical debt
House Democrats unveiled legislation that would prohibit courts and states from seizing workers' pay to collect medical debts.
On Monday, House Democrats introduced a bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, adding a prohibition on wage garnishment for medical debt and barring any state or court from enforcing it. Representatives Bobby Scott, Ilhan Omar and Greg Casar, who co-authored the legislation, said the United States should not allow medical bills to jeopardize workers' livelihoods. Currently, up to 25% of a worker’s take-home pay can be garnished under federal law, and 45 states still allow such deductions.
The bill follows existing bans in New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Delaware and North Carolina and aims to protect the roughly 100 million Americans who collectively owe $220 billion in medical debt. Studies cited show that medical debt drives many to bankruptcy and forces households to cut basic necessities, especially after recent health-insurance losses linked to policy changes. The legislation seeks to eliminate a practice the sponsors describe as predatory and to ensure that illness does not result in wage loss.
Why it matters
It would stop a common practice that pushes many Americans into financial crisis due to medical bills.
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