A new state law will protect people from having their wages garnished if they owe medical debt.
Governor Kathy Hochul today signed legislation that amends the civil practice law and rules to prohibit health care providers from placing home liens on an individual’s primary residence or garnishing wages to collect on medical debt.
Nearly half of American adults struggle to afford health care costs, and more than 50,000 New Yorkers have been sued for medical debt over the past five years.
Previously, hospitals or health care providers had been able to impose and enforce liens on a patient’s primary residence to satisfy a judgment in a medical debt lawsuit. Hochul said this practice leads to housing instability and has devastating financial consequences for vulnerable New Yorkers.
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