The Biden administration finalized a new rule that will prevent Americans from the harm caused by medical debt, including being coerced by debt collectors to pay bills they do not owe.

In a major change that could affect millions of Americans' credit scores, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday finalized a rule to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports. The rule would erase an estimated $49 billion in unpaid medical bills from the credit reports of roughly 15 million Americans,