A medical-debt watchdog gets sidelined by the new administration

A federal agency called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — CFPB for short — has taken big steps to help people with medical debt. In early February, the Trump administration moved to effectively shutter the agency.

We talked with credit counselor Lara Ceccarelli about how the CFPB has helped clients at the nonprofit where she works, and how she’s navigating the sudden change.

And consumer-rights advocate Chi Chi Wu — an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center — describes the court battle she and her colleagues are mounting to slow down the agency’s dismantling — and where things could go from here.

We’ll track this developing story in next week’s First Aid Kit newsletter, so if you’re not signed up, this is a great time to start: www.armandalegshow.com/firstaidkit.

Here's a transcript of this episode.

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