New Oklahoma law addresses medical debt

Representative Suzanne Schreiber, (D-Tulsa), took part in a ceremony at the State Capitol on Tuesday with Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt for signing HB 4148.

The new law requires compliance with the Oklahoma’s Transparency in Healthcare Prices Act before a medical debt judgment can be obtained.

Passed originally in 2021, the Act requires health care providers to post the cash prices of 20 of their most common health care services electronically.

HB 4148 requires compliance with that law as well as federal price transparency law in order for a provider to seek and obtain a judgment on a medical debt.

“Nearly one in four Oklahomans have medical debt and too many Oklahoma families are just one illness away from losing everything to bankruptcy or too afraid of unknown costs to seek care,” said Rep. Schreiber. ”That’s just not right,”

Cynthia Fisher, Founder and Chairman of PatientsRightsAdvocate.org says the bill will help protect people from financial ruin.