Medical Debt Protection Act; created, prohibited practices, penalties.

Formatting and spacing changes throughout the document, including removal of Senate-specific headers and addition of Governor Substitute headers with different line breaks and spacing.

The effective date for the Medical Debt Protection Act remains July 1, 2026 in both versions, with no substantive changes to implementation timelines.

Removed the addition of Chapter 58 (Medical Debt Protection Act) consisting of sections 59.1-607 through 59.1-610, which would have prohibited interest charges on medical debt, restricted collection actions, and protected patients during health insurance appeals.

Changed the committee name from 'Labor and Commerce' to 'Commerce and Labor' and added a date stamp (2/17/2025) to the header.

The effective date for the Medical Debt Protection Act provisions was removed entirely, as those provisions were deleted from the bill.

Added new provisions prohibiting medical creditors and debt collectors from using extraordinary collection actions like wage garnishment or property liens without meeting specific conditions.

Added requirements for medical debt buyers to offer payment plans limited to 5% of a patient's gross monthly income.

Added new prohibited practices related to selling medical debt without proper agreements and requiring 120-day waiting periods before collection actions.

Corrected the effective date of the bill from 'until July 1, 2025' to 'July 1, 2025' for the new provisions.

Fixed section numbering errors in the Medical Debt Protection Act chapter, changing sections 59.1-607 through 59.1-611 to 59.1-607 through 59.1-610.

The effective date was changed from July 1, 2025 to July 1, 2026, delaying implementation of the Medical Debt Protection Act by one year.

New sections 59.1-610 and 59.1-611 were added to Chapter 58, though their specific content is not visible in this diff.

Formatting changes including page breaks, section numbering updates, and the addition of 'HOUSE SUBSTITUTE' markings indicating this is a revised version of the bill.

The bill title was updated to include sections numbered 59.1-607 through 59.1-611, indicating the chapter now contains additional sections beyond the original 59.1-607, 59.1-608, and 59.1-609.

Section 610 prohibiting collection of medical debt during health insurance appeals was removed from the enrolled version

Section 611 regarding enforcement and penalties for the Medical Debt Protection Act was removed from the enrolled version

The bill number designation changed from HB 1725 to HB1725ER (Enrolled) indicating final passage and approval by the General Assembly

The effective date for the amended § 59.1-200 remains July 1, 2025, but the bill status changed from introduced to enrolled