Some medical debt is being removed from US credit reports

Help is coming for many people struggling with medical debt on credit reports.

Starting Friday, the three major U.S. credit reporting companies will stop counting paid medical debt on their reports, which banks and others use to judge creditworthiness.

The companies also will start giving patients a year to resolve delinquent medical debt that has been sent to collections before reporting it.

That's up from six months. Next year, the companies also will stop counting unpaid medical debt under $500.

Patient advocates cheer these moves, but they want more.

They question whether medical debt should remain on credit reports at all.