An Act to prevent unscrupulous medical debt recovery practices

194th Legislature (2025-2026) Introduced by Mark Montigny

Prohibits hospitals and their agents in Massachusetts from seizing a patient’s primary vehicle or principal residence to collect medical debt.

Bill reported favorably by committee and referred to the committee on Senate Ways and Means

Summary — S 1194: "An Act to prevent unscrupulous medical debt recovery practices"

Note on documents: The materials provided include two different pieces labeled “S 1194” from different jurisdictions (an Idaho Department of Health & Welfare appropriation and a Massachusetts consumer-protection bill). This summary focuses on the Massachusetts bill titled “An Act to prevent unscrupulous medical debt recovery practices,” which is the bill text and petition presented by Senator Mark C. Montigny (Senate Docket No. 1499).

Main purpose

To prohibit hospitals, community health centers, and their agents from using legal execution (seizure) against a patient’s or guarantor’s primary motor vehicle or principal residence to collect medical debt. The goal is to prevent aggressive collection practices that can leave patients without transportation or housing.

Key provisions

Inserts a new Section 34B into Chapter 235 of Massachusetts General Laws:

Prohibits a hospital or community health center licensed by the Department of Public Health (DPH) from seeking legal execution against:
The primary motor vehicle of a patient or a guarantor; or
The principal residence of a patient or a guarantor (up to the statutory amount in chapter 188),
Irrespective of whether a homestead declaration exists for the property.
The prohibition applies to the hospital/community health center and any agent acting on its behalf.

Regulatory requirement:

The Department of Public Health must promulgate regulations prohibiting hospitals, community health centers, or their agents from seeking such executions within 180 days of the act’s effective date.

Who is affected

Prohibited from pursuing execution: hospitals and community health centers licensed by the Massachusetts DPH (and their collection agents).

Protected: patients who owe medical bills and any guarantors of those bills — specifically protecting primary vehicles and principal residences from execution.

Indirectly affected: hospital billing/collections operations (may need alternate collection practices), patients’ financial advisers/legal services, and the courts (fewer execution filings).

Potential impacts

Consumer protection: reduces the risk that unpaid medical debt will result in loss of essential transportation or housing.

Financial/operational: may shift hospitals’ collection strategies (more reliance on billing, negotiation, payment plans, or bad-debt write-offs); potential modest impact on hospital recoveries depending on prevalence of executions prior to passage.

Administrative: DPH must issue implementing regulations within 180 days; enforcement and oversight mechanisms will depend on those regulations.

Procedural / timeline notes

Filed as Senate Docket No. 1499 (presented by Mark C. Montigny) on 01/16/2025 and referred to the Judiciary Committee.

The DPH regulation deadline is 180 days after the act’s effective date.

The source materials include mixed records from multiple jurisdictions; verify current status and final enactment or effective dates using the Massachusetts legislative information site or the clerk’s office for the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court for the most up-to-date procedural status.