Federal official hears testimony on medical debt, junk fees throughout New Mexico

A top federal consumer protection official said New Mexicans have accumulated a staggering amount of medical debt and that a federal bureau will be trying to monitor how the debt is collected and if any “junk fees” in the state are violating federal consumer protection laws.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra visited New Mexico this week, where he met with local and tribal leaders, advocates and consumers. The bureau implements and enforces federal consumer financial laws.

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., called a news conference to raise awareness about Chopra’s visit.

Stansbury, who grew up in a poor family, said her mother in 2008 could only seek health care at Casa de Salud, a clinic in the South Valley that offered affordable medical services to low-income residents. Stansbury said it was only through the help of that clinic that her mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which was later removed.

“So for me, this issue is very personal,” she said. “We can talk a lot about government regulation and interventions and support for our communities. But what we’re really talking about is life or death, for our families, for our parents, for our grandparents for aunties and uncles.”

The CFPB reported last year that 18% of New Mexicans have medical debt totaling $881 million. That works out to about $2,700 of debt per person.

“What we are seeing here in New Mexico is a staggering amount of medical debt,” Chopra said.

Chopra met Thursday with Stansbury and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller at the University of New Mexico Law School, along with consumer advocates, legal center officials and health care providers to talk about how medical debt is affecting people and the local economy. He also met with officials from the pueblos of Laguna and Acoma on Wednesday to talk about mortgages and housing. He was also scheduled to travel to Gallup to meet with financial institutions that serve Native American communities.

“Many people here are experiencing what’s happening all over the country, sitting in a doom loop between the insurance company and the hospital with so much paperwork, inaccurate billing and more,” Chopra said. “And what do they face after that, getting it put on their credit report, and often being coerced into paying something they don’t even owe in the first place.”

He said he’s hoping to help uncover nationwide trends by traveling the country to hear about local consumer issues.

“That’s what happened in the subprime mortgage crisis,” he said. “I think if government had listened to what was happening, they could have acted more quickly.”

He said anyone who thinks they are being taken advantage of to file a complaint at consumerfinance.gov.