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News :: Health |
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Medical Debt Problems in the CU Community |
Current rating: 0 |
by One1
(No verified email address) |
04 Mar 2004
Modified: 01:02:47 PM |
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Med. debt problems continue to receive national attention thanks to CCHCC's great work and devotion to this issue. HHS's advise to hospitals does not have legal binding, neither do HHS' guidelines. Only Congress can put enforceable provisions with teeth to the guidelines, no? One thing CCHCC needs to consider is an analysis on the poor record fed gov has on enforcing charity obligations, and then also track the record of the state of illinois on the same issue. Congratulations CCHCC for your outstanding job on the med debt problem! One1 |
Thursday, March 4, 2004
DAILY ILLINI STORY
Local health care consumers discuss medical woes
By Susie An | Staff writer
Published Thursday, March 4, 2004
James Bean, 45, of Champaign was treated at Carle Foundation Hospital in 1991 for a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Carle was expecting a prompt payment for his $7,718.23 medical bill before the debt was turned over to a collection agency. But Bean was uninsured and had income below the federal poverty line.
When he missed a court hearing for his hospital bill in 2001, Carle asked the court to issue an arrest warrant. Bean turned himself in and was incarcerated six hours. Local hospitals call the process of arresting debtors "body attachment."
Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) held a news conference yesterday morning to discuss issues like such as Bean's and developments at the federal level regarding hospital pricing and debt collection practices.
Tommy Thompson, secretary of United States Department of Health and Human Services, issued a statement Feb. 19 to the American Hospital Association (AHA) advising them to assist uninsured and underinsured patients.
"(The new federal guideline) shows that hospitals can provide discounts to uninsured and underinsured patients who cannot afford their hospital bills and to Medicare beneficiaries who cannot afford their Medicare cost-sharing obligations," Thompson wrote in his letter to the AHA.
Claudia Lennhoff, executive director of CCHCC, said activity from community organizations like CCHCC has brought federal attention to discriminatory pricing by hospitals and debt collection practices.
In addition, it has also brought attention to the failure to make hospital charity care programs and discount care programs known to patients who need that assistance, she said.
Lennhoff also discussed the Medicare 100 Program, which is the subject of a lawsuit between CCHCC and Provena Covenant Hospital. Medicare 100 gives members waivers for all out-of-pocket Medicare-related hospital expenses. Most of its members are of low income.
Provena Covenant Hospital ended its participation in the program in 1998. With new leadership at Provena, CCHCC meet with Provena to discuss new implications of the Medicare 100 program and are optimistic that they can resolve the lawsuit, Lennhoff said.
"This is the first time since Provena announced its termination of the program that Provena Covenant and the Champaign County Health Care Consumers have ever met to discuss the possible reinstatement of the program," Lennhoff said.
Mary Jane Gillespie, member of the Community Coalition on Medical Debt with CCHCC, met with hospitals to discuss pricing and debt collection. The Coalition presented the hospitals six months ago with three recommendations:
1. Hospitals should publicize the availability of charity care in an acceptable and understandable way.
2. Hospitals should remove time limits of applying for charity care.
3. Hospitals should end harmful debt collection like garnishing of wages, seizure of assets and property of low-income patients, and prohibit body attachment.
The Coalition has been meeting regularly with Provena and beginning to meet with Carle, Gillespie said.
Provena has revised their charity care program and removed the time limit on their charity care applications. Under new leadership, Provena has also ended its use of body attachment debt collecting, she said.
Despite Carle's improvements to it's charity care programs, Carle Community Care, Carle's management continues to advocate the use of body attachments, Gillespie said.
"Our policy and intent is to avoid the use of body attachment on people who would qualify for Community Care," said Gretchen Robbins, spokesperson for Carle, in an e-mail. "In order to be good stewards of the community's resources, we choose to leave the door open for the use of this legal tool in dealing with people who are able to pay, but have chosen not to do so."
Members of CCHCC said they will continue to meet with both hospitals to make health care improvement for low income, uninsured and underinsured patients.
"Health care is a basic human right," said Brooke Anderson, community organizer for CCHCC. "People should not have to feel like criminals and be arrested and incarcerated and have their wages garnished, and liens put on their homes just because they went to get health care."
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