Kamala Harris announces elimination of medical debt for millions of Americans

The Biden Administration announced the elimination of medical debt for millions of Americans. The spokeswoman for this measure was Kamala Harris, who assured that the measure "will change the lives of millions of families" across the United States. The initiative was unveiled less than 15 days before the start of the second presidency of Donald Trump, who recently accused Joe Biden of complicating the presidential transition with last-minute measures.

According to a White House statement, the new rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will remove $49 billion in unpaid medical bills from the credit reports of 15 million Americans.

“Today, we are building on this meaningful work by announcing an unprecedented final rule that will make it so medical debt is no longer included in your credit score. This will be life-changing for millions of families, making it easier for them to be approved for a car loan, a home loan, or a small-business loan. As someone who has spent my entire career fighting to protect consumers and lower medical bills, I know that our historic rule will help more Americans save money, build wealth, and thrive" explained Harris.

At the same time, the vice president said that several states and localities eliminated more than $1 billion in medical debt, benefiting 700,000 Americans. As she remarked, this was made possible by the American Recovery Plan (ARP) signed into law by President Biden in March 2021. No Republican supported the legislation at the time.

"No one should be denied economic opportunity because they got sick or experienced a medical emergency. That is why President Biden and I cancelled over $1 billion in medical debt – part of our overall plan to forgive $7 billion by 2026 – with support from our American Rescue Plan, legislation that I advanced with my tie-breaking vote in the Senate. We also reduced the burden of medical debt by increasing pathways to forgiveness and cracking down on predatory debt collection tactics," she added.

This is another last-minute announcement by the White House, something Trump already complained about via social media.

"Biden is doing everything possible to make the TRANSITION as difficult [as] possible, from Lawfare such as has never been seen before, to costly and ridiculous Executive Orders on the Green New Scam and other money wasting Hoaxes." the president-elect recently tweeted.