How to submit testimony in support of the Ohio Medical Debt Fairness Act

The Ohio House is currently accepting testimony on House Bill 257, the Ohio Medical Debt Fairness Act. This bill would do three key things:

1. Cap interest rates for medical debt at 3%.
2. Ban medical debt from impacting your credit scores.
3. Ban wage garnishment for unpaid medical bills.

These are popular, common-sense policies that will protect Ohioans. H.B. 257 is a bipartisan bill modeled after others passed in states like Virginia and New Hampshire.

The House Health Committee will accept testimony in support of the bill on Wednesday, June 4 at 10am.

To submit testimony, you must email the House Health Committee (OHRHealthCommittee@ohiohouse.gov) by 12:00pm on the day before the committee meets (Tuesday, June 3) and include a witness slip.

A completed testimony has both a written document with your testimony AND a witness slip in one email.

Title your email: House Bill 257 – Proponent.

To submit written testimony, make sure to state that you intend to submit written-only. Your testimony should be less than two pages long. Remember: All testimony is a public document, so don’t include personal details you don’t want publicly accessible.

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In your testimony, you should:

1. Acknowledge committee members and introduce yourself.
2. Talk about your why.
3. Add supporting evidence.
4. Tell lawmakers how this change would impact your family.
5. State firm agreement with the policy.

1. Acknowledge committee members and introduce yourself.

To the Ohio House Health Committee,

Chair Schmidt, Vice Chair Deeter, and Ranking Member Somani, my name is [your name] and I am a current Ohio resident. I am from [city], and a [current patient, family member, concerned Ohioan, etc.]. I am excited to testify today in support of the Ohio Medical Debt Fairness Act and would like to start by thanking Representative Schmidt for sponsoring the legislation.

2. Talk About Your Why: Why do you feel called to speak about this topic?

As a (patient, caregiver, Ohioan etc.), I believe that no Ohioan should have their financial stability overturned because of receiving lifesaving healthcare. The cost of healthcare in this country is high and often puts working families at risk of significant financial burden. This bill would relieve that burden by putting in place best practice policies that protect Ohioans from that debt impacting the rest of their lives.

Questions to consider:

• Do you have specific patient experience with medical debt that you can share?
• What is the highest medical bill you have ever received?
• What does your personal faith (if practicing) say about medical debt?
• Why do you believe that access to healthcare is a moral issue?

3. Add supporting evidence

You can add specific information, statistics, or data points you think would be helpful. This is optional for testimony but can help support your argument.

Tell lawmakers how this change would impact your family:

• Living with a medical condition can complicate a person’s life in many ways, but a person’s financial stability shouldn’t be one of them. Responsible, working Ohioans shouldn’t have to worry that a medical incident that they can’t control will destroy their credit and their financial future.
• The Ohio Medical Debt Fairness Act would bring my family peace of mind in the future because….
• These policies would have improved my experience as a patient by…

4. State your firm support of the bill

I believe this will benefit my family, my community, and Ohioans in every part of the state. For this reason, I strongly support these changes.

5. End by saying thanks

Thank you for the opportunity to deliver this testimony.

Do you have questions about how to submit testimony? You can contact Kpoe@policymattersohio.o