Courts cannot take workers' pay for medical bills.
H.R. 10373 — Protecting Workers' Wages from Medical Debt Act · Filed by Bobby Scott (D-VA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 14, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill stops courts from ordering employers to take money from workers' paychecks to pay medical debt. Medical debt means money owed to hospitals or doctors. The rule starts six months after the law passes. It applies to new cases only.
Who it affects
Workers keep more of their paychecks. Medical debt collectors lose one way to get paid. Lower-income workers benefit most because they need every dollar.
One thing to notice
The bill only stops wage garnishment. Debt collectors can still use other methods like bank account seizures.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- Sep 14, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 14, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- wage garnishment — A court order that makes an employer take money from a worker's paycheck to pay a debt.
- medical debt — Money owed to hospitals, doctors, or other health care providers for care or treatment.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,283 characters) on Sep 16, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-22.
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