Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

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Delaware program

If a medical bill reaches collections

Delaware limits fees, credit reporting and collection practices on medical debt covered by its law.

What it is

Delaware limits fees, credit reporting and collection practices on medical debt covered by its law.

These rules can change what a hospital or medical debt collector may demand. They prohibit specified fees and collection methods. They do not erase the debt or ban every lawsuit.

Eligibility rules
  • The payment-plan rule covers hospitals, their outpatient clinics and freestanding emergency rooms. The bans on interest, late fees and credit reporting cover all medical debt. (one bullet)
What you get
  • No interest or late fees on covered medical debt.
  • No credit reporting or wage or bank-account garnishment under the covered protections.
  • For covered large-facility debt of $500 or more, a payment plan capped at 5% of gross monthly income.
What the help includes
  • The payment plan cannot be refused solely because you have not supplied proof of income.
  • A permitted extraordinary collection action cannot start until at least 120 days after the first bill was sent. A separate written notice must give at least 30 days before that action. Legal help can check both dates and whether the action is allowed.
  • An initial payment cannot be required within 30 days of service or 30 days of the first bill, or while a covered documentation request is pending.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the hospital billing office or collector for a written payment plan under Delaware’s medical debt law.
  2. Have bills, collection letters, their dates, any insurance appeal and your gross monthly income ready.

Hospital billing office or medical debt collector · Official page ↗

What happens next
  • A written agreement records the monthly payment and no-interest terms.
Good to know

Specified collections are restricted while an insurance appeal is pending and for 60 days afterward. The creditor or collector must know, or reasonably be expected to know, about the appeal.

Other details
  • Specified collection actions are restricted while an insurance appeal is pending and for 60 days after it ends, when the creditor or collector knows or should know about the appeal. This is different from a hospital financial-assistance appeal.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Would Delaware’s medical debt protections change this bill or payment plan? What are the benefits and limits, and could you help request the right terms?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know what we legally owe and whether collections must pause during an appeal.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Ask for the plan in writing and quote the 5 percent cap and the no-proof-of-income line.

Your social worker

The hospital billing office sets the plan up; the financial counsellor can start it.

The care team

Records and letters when the application asks for them.

Who decides
Nobody decides; the rules bind the facility and the collector.
Ask the billing office
“Delaware law caps my monthly payment at 5 percent of my gross monthly income and says you cannot refuse the plan because I have not sent proof of income. Please set that plan up in writing.”

How to apply

First step: Write to the hospital billing office asking for the payment plan capped at 5 percent of your gross monthly income.

  1. Write to the billing office asking for the payment plan capped at 5 percent of your gross monthly income.
  2. Dated written notice helps show that the collector knows about an insurance appeal. The statutory protection uses a knows-or-should-know standard, not written notice alone.
  3. Keep every notice; the 120-day and 30-day clocks are counted from dated documents.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask in writing for the payment plan and quote the law if they refuse.

What to gather

  • Every bill and collection letter with its date
  • Any appeal you have filed with the plan
  • Your gross monthly income

How long: Nothing extraordinary can happen until 120 days after the first bill, and then only with 30 days’ written notice.

What a yes looks like

A written payment plan at or under 5 percent of gross monthly income, with no interest.

What a no looks like, and the next move

A refusal is itself an unlawful practice. Put the request in writing and quote the chapter.

Watch out

  • It is not a ban on every lawsuit. It bars named actions and puts clocks on the rest.
  • Specified collections are restricted while an insurance appeal is pending and for 60 days afterward when the creditor or collector knows or should know about it. Written notice helps document knowledge.
  • Ask for the plan in writing. Verbal arrangements are hard to hold anyone to later.

If they say no, quote this: 6 Del. C. ch. 25J: "No person may report any medical debt to a consumer reporting agency." The same chapter says failure to provide proof of income cannot be a basis to deny a payment plan.

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

No interest or late fees, no credit reporting, no wage or bank garnishment, and a payment plan capped at 5 percent of gross monthly income.

  • $500 — Debt level at which a payment plan must be offered
  • $5 — Maximum monthly payment as a share of gross monthly income
  • $120 — Wait before any permitted extraordinary collection action
  • $30 — Written notice before an extraordinary collection action
  • $60 — Days after an insurance appeal ends during which specified collection protections continue

Legal protection: No interest or late fees on medical debt, including on a judgment, whatever an agreement says · No reporting of any medical debt to a consumer reporting agency · No foreclosure on your home for medical debt · No garnishing of wages, disability payments, workers’ compensation or unemployment benefits · No garnishing or attaching a bank account, pension, annuity or retirement account · A violation is an unlawful practice, and a consumer can sue for equitable relief

What it costs the family: None.

The eligibility facts, as published

Who
a patient with medical debt owed to a large health-care facility or held by a medical debt collector
Effective
March 11, 2024 for the main protections, derived from approval on September 11, 2023 plus six months; October 27, 2025 for the credit-reporting ban, derived from approval on July 29, 2025 plus 90 days

The trap: It is not a ban on every lawsuit or every lien. It bars specific actions, and it puts a clock on the rest: nothing extraordinary until 120 days after the first bill, and 30 days’ written notice before that.

Where I read this

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