New Jersey program
If a medical bill reaches collections
New Jersey limits how medical debt can be reported, charged interest and collected.
What it is
New Jersey limits how medical debt can be reported, charged interest and collected.
A medical bill does not give a creditor unlimited collection rights. State protections also cover parents responsible for a minor's debt. A pending insurance appeal matters once the creditor knows about it.
Eligibility rules
- The law reaches medical debt owed by a patient, including a parent or guardian responsible for a minor's debt.
- Reporting and enforcement provisions began July 22, 2024. The remaining protections began July 22, 2025.
What you get
- Protection against medical-debt credit reporting.
- Interest capped at 3%, including on a judgment.
- A pause in collection on charges under an insurance appeal the creditor knows about.
What the help covers
- Medical-debt wage garnishment is prohibited below 600% of poverty.
- The law restricts specified collection before 120 days after the first bill and requires a reasonable payment-plan opportunity and advance notice at least 30 days before specified collection actions; these are separate conditions, not necessarily a single 150-day waiting period.
- The medical-debt reporting restriction is separate from national credit-reporting practices for small balances.
If you decide to apply
- You can ask the hospital billing office to review the bill and any insurance appeal affecting it.
- If an appeal is pending, you can give the creditor written notice and keep a copy. You can ask the financial counselor to help identify the disputed charges.
The Attorney General enforces it; you assert it with the creditor · Official page ↗
After you ask
- The appeal collection protection depends on the creditor knowing that an appeal is pending.
- The Attorney General enforces the law.
Good to know
These protections limit collection. A valid medical bill can still remain due.
Other details
- An insurance appeal and a hospital financial-assistance review are different processes. A known pending insurance appeal has a specific New Jersey collection pause; applicable nonprofit-hospital financial-assistance rules separately limit extraordinary collection actions. The counselor can identify which protection applies to each charge.
- New Jersey's medical-debt reporting protection is not limited to balances under $500. The creditor and reporting agency can identify whether the debt meets the law's definition. Ordinary credit-card debt used to pay a medical bill may be different.
Official sources
“If a bill reaches collection, which New Jersey protections apply to us? Could you help us check the charges and notify the creditor about an appeal if there is one?”
Why I’m asking: I want to understand our rights before a medical bill causes more financial harm.
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
Put the appeal in writing to the billing office and keep the copy.
Your social worker
The hospital financial counsellor can confirm what is being appealed and when.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The creditor must comply; the Attorney General enforces.
- Ask the billing office
- “An appeal of this decision is pending. Under the New Jersey medical debt law, please stop collection on these charges and have any credit entry deleted.”
How to apply
First step: If you are appealing anything, write to the billing office today saying so, and keep the copy.
- If you are appealing a denial, write to the billing office saying so and keep a copy.
- If medical debt appears on a credit report, write and say New Jersey law bars it.
- Do not agree to interest above 3% on a payment plan.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Write to the creditor naming the pending appeal, and keep a copy.
What to gather
The diagnosis letter, the child’s insurance card, and the last two pay stubs cover most applications. The official page lists the rest.
How long: Immediate once asserted; the Attorney General enforces.
What a yes looks like
Collection stops and any credit entry disappears.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Continued calls. Repeat in writing, cite the New Jersey medical debt law, and tell the Attorney General.
Watch out
- The appeal protection starts only once the creditor knows. Tell them in writing.
- It does not cancel the debt. It limits how it can be collected.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
No credit reporting of medical debt, interest capped at 3%, no wage garnishment below six times the poverty line, and collection paused while a known appeal runs.
- $3/year — Maximum interest on medical debt, including on a judgment
- $600 — Income line below which wages cannot be garnished for medical debt
- $120 — Days before a first bill can be referred to collection
- $30 — Further notice before collection begins
- $500 — Debt below which separate reporting protection applies
Legal protection: Covered medical debt cannot be reported to the credit agencies · A creditor who knows an internal, external or other insurance appeal is pending cannot contact you to collect those charges, cannot start a case over them, and cannot pass them to a collector · That creditor must instruct the credit agencies to delete the entry · The protections cover the parent or guardian responsible for a child's debt
What it costs the family: Nothing: it is a law, not an application.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Scope
- medical debt owed by a patient, including the parent or guardian responsible for a minor's debt
- Residency
- New Jersey
- Effective
- reporting and enforcement provisions from July 22, 2024; the remaining protections from July 22, 2025
The trap: The appeal protection only bites once the creditor knows about the appeal. Tell them in writing that an internal or external appeal is pending, and keep the copy.
Where I read this
- P.L.2024, c.48: Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act — New Jersey Legislature, read September 10, 2026
- Announcement of the eighth and final round of New Jersey medical debt relief — Undue Medical Debt, read September 10, 2026