American Military News by Noam N. Levey - Los Angeles Times September 03, 2023
North Carolina hospitals — led by the state’s largest public medical system — have sued thousands of their patients since 2017, according to a new analysis that sheds additional light on the aggressive tactics U.S. hospitals routinely use to collect from people who fall behind on their bills.
The report, produced by the state treasurer and Duke University School of Law researchers, and related patient interviews offer harrowing accounts of people pursued for tens of thousands of dollars and often surprised by liens that hospitals placed on family homes.
In some cases, spouses were targeted after their partners died. In others, patients interviewed by researchers said they’d been surprised to learn about property liens only after they tried to sell their homes or after a parent who owned the home died.
“I know my house will never be mine. It is going to be the hospital’s,” said Donna Lindabury, 70, whose home was targeted by Charlotte-based Atrium Health, which won a $192,000 judgment against her and her 79-year-old husband over his 2009 heart surgery. Interest on the debt represented more than half of the couple’s balance.
Lindabury said the hospital originally told them they could get assistance with the bills, but then denied their applications for aid. “People, where their God is money, they just don’t care,” she told researchers.
The North Carolina findings reinforce an investigation by KFF Health News and NPR, which found that most U.S. hospitals maintain policies to aggressively pursue patients for unpaid bills, using tactics such as lawsuits, selling patient accounts to debt buyers, and reporting patients to credit rating agencies.
Nationwide, about 100 million people — 41% of adults — have some form of health care debt, according to a KFF poll. Medical debt is most widespread in the South, where chronic disease is more prevalent and many states haven’t expanded their Medicaid safety net through the Affordable Care Act. (North Carolina expanded Medicaid only this year.)
“It’s just another example of hospitals putting profits ahead of patients. It’s like an onion. The more you peel it back, the more you cry,” said Treasurer Dale Folwell, a Republican who for years has challenged hospital pricing and debt collection practices. “They should stop breaking people’s kneecaps to collect these debts.”
More:
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/09/north-carolina-hospitals-have-sued-thousands-of-their-patients-a-new-report-finds/
