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Issue Encyclopedia · Guideline F · Financial

Medical Debt

What the decided record shows for this issue, computed from public DOHA hearing-level decisions. Descriptive history, not a prediction.

Does medical debt affect a security clearance?

Medical Debt is an issue decided under Guideline F, Financial. In the decided DOHA record it appears in 3,857 hearing-level cases, and 34% of the 3,857 decided ended with access granted (1,329 granted, 2,528 denied). The mitigating conditions judges credited most often, and example decisions either way, are below.

Basis: 3,857 decided hearing-level cases raising this issue. Descriptive history of decided cases, not a prediction.

More questions people ask the record

Decided cases

3,857

hearing-level decisions raising this issue

Granted

34%

1,329 granted · 2,528 denied or revoked

Official mitigating conditions cited

The formal mitigating conditions the case profiles identified on this issue, in cases that were granted and in cases that were denied. Each is shown with its paragraph number and a plain name. Read what each condition says.

  • ¶ 20(d) · A good-faith effort to repay or otherwise resolve the debts

    In granted cases
    586
    In denied cases
    114

  • ¶ 20(b) · Conditions largely beyond the person's control, met responsibly

    In granted cases
    534
    In denied cases
    44

  • ¶ 20(c) · Counseling received, with clear signs the problem is being resolved

    In granted cases
    312
    In denied cases
    32

  • ¶ 20(a) · So long ago, or so infrequent, that it is unlikely to recur

    In granted cases
    113
    In denied cases
    5

  • ¶ 20(e) · A reasonable and documented basis to dispute the debt

    In granted cases
    52
    In denied cases
    14

  • ¶ 20(g) · An arrangement made with the tax authority, and kept

    In granted cases
    25
    In denied cases
    10

Circumstances credited in granted cases

The specific circumstances the judge expressly credited among the granted cases on this issue where that detail was extracted.
  • debt paid in full · credited in 18 granted cases
  • chapter 7 bankruptcy · credited in 1 granted case

Recent decided examples

  • ISCR Case No. 25-01037Granted2026

    The case involves an applicant seeking a security clearance who faced financial difficulties due to medical emergencies leading to significant debt. The applicant admitted to the allegations of indebt…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00873Granted2026

    Applicant, a 35 year old security officer for a DoD contractor, admitted nine Guideline F debts totaling about $39,000. The debts stemmed largely from unemployment, underemployment, a repossessed vehi…

  • ISCR Case No. 23-02358Denied2026

    The applicant's security clearance was denied due to failure to mitigate financial concerns under Guideline F. The applicant admitted to having multiple delinquent accounts totaling approximately $42,…

  • ISCR Case No. 26-00015Denied2026

    The applicant's security clearance was denied due to unresolved financial issues, including fifteen delinquent accounts totaling approximately $106,860. Although the applicant admitted to some allegat…

See all 3,857 decisions on this issue

Related issues under Guideline F

How these numbers are measured

Scope: decided hearing-level cases whose per-allegation profile records this issue, matched to the same issue value the search filters use, so a count here and a filtered search always agree. A case raising several issues counts under each one. The mitigating conditions and the credited circumstances below were extracted for a subset of the record, so both are counts of cases rather than rates. Pages exist only for issues with at least 25 decided cases, and † marks any split built on fewer than 20.

Reading the statistics

  • Granted = access granted or continued; Denied = denied or revoked.
  • Grant rate = granted ÷ (granted + denied).
  • † marks figures based on fewer than 20 cases, too few to be reliable.
  • Hovering any rate shows its statistical range (a 95% confidence interval).
  • Figures are descriptive counts over decided, public DOHA ISCR decisions, never predictions or assessments of any pending case.

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