Some nonprofit hospitals around the country don’t ever seize their patients’ wages. Some do so only in very rare cases. But others sue hundreds of patients every year. Heartland, which is in the process of changing its name to Mosaic Life Care, seizes more money from patients than any other hospital in Missouri. From 2009 through 2013, the hospital’s debt collection arm garnished the wages of about 6,000 people, according to a ProPublica analysis of state court data.
After the hospital wins a judgment against a former patient in court, it’s entitled to take a hefty portion of the patient’s paychecks going forward: 25 percent of after-tax pay. For patients who are the head of household, if they tell the hospital or court that information, the hospital can seize only 10 percent of each paycheck.
But Heartland, through the debt collection company Northwest Financial Services, often sues both adults in a household ”” garnishing one at the 10 percent rate and the other at the full 25 percent of their pay. The hospital also charges patients 9 percent interest, the maximum allowed under state law.
This has been going on for years. A story in the Charlotte Observer from 2012 claims that 40,000 such suits were filed by NC Hospitals between 2005 and 2010. In NC the hospital can put a lien on your house. Carolinas Medical Center, a non profit, made 300 million annually for three of those years. I am all for people paying their bills, but shouldn’t these hospitals pay taxes too?
Stories like this make me appreciate even more why I’m blessed to live in Canada. We can afford to get sick here.
It makes me grateful for my local hospital which took care of me in 2010 when I was uninsured and I had to be admitted twice in two months. The total bill was about 60,000. They “forgave” 80% as “charity care” and are letting me pay off the remaining balance at $40/month at zero interest. (Yes it is over ten years but I can afford $40/month!!) Even if I had had insurance, I would have had to pay 20% in copay, it comes out even.
Just because it has been going on a long while doesn’t mean it is ok. The specific Missouri hospital profiled in the piece comes off very badly.
Surely there is a better way to handle this for all considered. What happened to the idea of “the common good”?
#3, my impression is that most hospitals will work with honest patients who make arrangements like yours. The stated cost on the initial bill isn’t what it “really” costs the hospital. Between their usual write-down and some charity write-off, if patients will pay the remainder it works out.
The term “non-profit” in reference to healthcare – hospitals in particular – is somewhat misleading. Like every other business, a hospital must make a “profit,” in order to purchase new equipment, upgrade/update its physical plant, expand services and give raises to staff. That said, I’ve been an OR manager/director in four health systems: 2 for-profit and 2 non-profit (or as a former CFO categorized them: tax paying and non-tax paying). I have to tell you, the non-profits have been the worst, by far, in terms of putting the squeeze on patients. Undergroundpewster was right on target vis-Ã -vis the situation in North Carolina – roughly 10 years ago, Duke seized the home of an elderly widow shortly after her husband (a patient at DUMC) died. Fortunately, this woman’s plight made it into the press and Duke (which, irrespective of it’s national/international stature, has a negative reputation among the locals), backed off. Closer to home: My sister was referred to a world-renown medical center two years after a botched (and, as it turned out, unnecessary) esophagectomy, which – among other things – has left her permanently disabled. I don’t know what her balance was, but she has faithfully made payments every month for the last 5 years…then, about 6 months ago, she received the first of several threatening phone calls from the hospital’s in-house barracuda, who called her a parasite for paying only $100/month. For five years, she had been making that “paltry” monthly payment before she bought food or paid utilities – and they called her a parasite. It took me filing a grievance and threatening additional legal action, before they finally quit their harassment. In some respects, we were rather fortunate, as my professional background enabled me to navigate through this morass. I can’t help but wonder, though, about all the other “parasites” who continue to receive this fine specimen of humanity.