Courtroom Standoffs: Hospitals On Brink Of Insolvency Trying To Squeeze Money From Patients Who Just Don’t Have It
Emergency room visits can often lead to a court date when the patients can't pay their bills. In a small Missouri town the practice has become so routine that some people here derisively refer to it as the “follow-up appointment." In just this town, there can be dozens of cases each week. “I’m trying to make peace with the fact that this debt could sit on me forever,” said Gail Dudley, 31.
The Washington Post:
The ‘Follow-Up Appointment’
The people being sued arrived at the courthouse carrying their hospital bills, and they followed signs upstairs to a small courtroom labeled “Debt and Collections.” A 68-year-old wheeled her portable oxygen tank toward the first row. A nurse’s aide came in wearing scrubs after working a night shift. A teenager with an injured leg stood near the back wall and leaned against crutches. By 9 a.m., more than two-dozen people were crowded into the room for what has become the busiest legal docket in rural Butler County. (Saslow, 8/17)
In other news on health care costs —
Modern Healthcare:
Report Shows Big Swings In Colorado ER Facility Fees
There was wide variation in the facility fees Colorado hospitals and freestanding emergency rooms tacked onto emergency visit bills in 2018, new data from the state's All Payer Claims Database show. In addition to charges for things like lab tests, imaging and surgical procedures, emergency visit bills almost always include an evaluation and management fee, also known as the facility fee, that corresponds to the patient's severity level. But a new report from Colorado's Center for Improving Value in Health Care, the not-for-profit organization that analyzes all payer data, shows huge variation in those facility fees. (Bannow, 8/16)
WBUR:
Rural Hospitals Say ‘Medicare For All’ Would End Up 'Closing Our Doors'
Adopting a single-payer government health care program that covers all Americans would force more rural hospitals to close, according to hospital administrators from Texas to Maine. Universal health care — also known as “Medicare for All” — is a long way from becoming law. But the issue is already dividing Democrats trying to unseat President Trump in the 2020 election. (O'Dowd, 8/16)
