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News :: Health |
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University of Illinois arrests patients who can't pay hospital bill |
Current rating: 0 |
by Democracy Now
(No verified email address) |
07 Jan 2004
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(University of Illinois is among) some hospitals now rank among America's most aggressive debt-collectors. Some also use one of the harshest and least-known collections tactics of all: seeking the arrest of no-show debtors.
Hospitals in several states have secured the arrest and even jailing of patients who miss court hearings on their debts. This legal tactic is chillingly known in some areas as "Body Attachment."
Hear segment where CFO of U of I Carle Foundation Hospital defends use of arrests for low income, non-insured patients who can't pay hospital bill: |
See also:
http://stream.realimpact.net/rihurl.ram?file=webactive/demnow/dn20040107.ra&start=41:19.6
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/07/1524223
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Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
Comments
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Re: University of Illinois arrests patients who can't pay hospital bill |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
07 Jan 2004
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I think your headline is a little confused, asis your article. Carle Clinic and its hospital in Urbana are not part of the U of I, although Carle Clinic has jailed medical debtors in the past, which is what the DN story is about. The U of I does have some students who do clinical work at Carle, but has no control over Carle's billing practices.
The U of I does have a teaching hospital in Chicago, but I don't know what their collection practices are like. As it stands, your headline is incorrect and misleading, although I'm certain that DN will get it right and that the show is well worth listening to. |
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Re: University of Illinois arrests patients who can't pay hospital bill |
by LG
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
07 Jan 2004
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UCIMC covered this back in October.
http://ucimc.org/feature/display/13880/index.php |
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Re: University of Illinois arrests patients who can't pay hospital bill |
by Jack Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Jan 2004
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Money or suffering, your only two choices in Bush'merica! Pay or diev - what's wrong with that? ;)
Your friend,
The Real Jack |
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Re: University of Illinois arrests patients who can't pay hospital bill |
by Jack Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Jan 2004
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Money or suffering, your only two choices in Bush'merica! Suffer, die, or jail - what's wrong with that? ;)
Your friend,
The Real Jack |
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Re: University of Illinois arrests patients who can't pay hospital bill |
by jw
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: -2
08 Jan 2004
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First, I would like to point out that none of the patients were arrested for not paying thier bills. They were arrested for failing to show up in court. Does failure to appear indicate that these folks have no interest in trying to resolve thier debt? It does to me.
Debt is debt. The patient is given a bill for a service that is rendered. Hospital debt differs from other debt only in that if you fall behind on say, car payments, the car dealer or lending company is under no obligation to loan you more money, or sell you another car. If money is owed to a hospital and you show up with an emergency they have to treat you.
I know that not ALL patients can afford to pay thier medical bills and for those that can not there are charity programs to help, but let me ask you this: How many of these 'economically unequal' patients buy lottery tickets, smoke, drink, and do drugs? It has been my experience that some people simply choose not to pay for healthcare because they know that the hospitals are obligated to treat them whether they pay or not, so they choose to spend their money on other things. Before you start flaming me, take a moment and be honest with yourself. We all know people like this. They have the ability to pull themselves out of debt, but lack the desire or discipline to do so. This passes the burden onto hospitals and ultimately, to those of us who have insurance, and pay for our healthcare.
While I do see the noninsured/underinsured numbers in this country as a huge issue, I have a problem with people who want to shrug off thier responsibility at my expense. |
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Re: University of Illinois arrests patients who can't pay hospital bill |
by Jack Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
09 Jan 2004
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Dear Anti Jack
The person who posted this story, clearly got it screwed up as is typical. The hospital performed a service for which they expected to be paid.
They sent it to collection who then took them to court. They failed to appear. What is it about you folks that you think that someone should always pay for you and the services you need?
For the record, no person seeking treatment for a medical emergency in the US is denied care. It is the law. However, it is interesting to note, that biggest non-payor in the State is Illinois Medicaid.
Anyway Anti Jack, Everyone on this site knows that I am a conservative and whenever they see something from the left under my name, they know that you wrote it.
I would like to challenge you to come up with something new and interesting for our fans. How about, "no imagination boy", or I wish I had courage man", or perhaps "I am typing with one hand and using the other boy". I think any of those might work.
Jack |
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Re: University of Illinois arrests patients who can't pay hospital bill |
by John Hilty
jhilty (nospam) shout.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 5
17 Jan 2004
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This is a response to the comment by jw.
First of all, the local hospitals are tax-exempt non-profit organizations and are supposed to abide by the principles of such organizations under state and federal law. They are NOT supposed to act exactly like a for-profit business and saddle people with unpayable debts. I see no reason why an organization that is supposed to be a charity should arrest people on behalf of an uncollectable debt. It appears that jw makes no distinction between for-profit and non-profit organizations regarding what is, and what isn't, permissable institutional behavior. I can think of no other non-profit organization that has people arrested over bills that haven't been paid. Do churches arrest people? Do colleges and universities? What about the Salvation Army? In this regard, the non-profit hospitals that have debtors arrested on their behalf are establishing a new trend that is blurring the distinction between for-profit and non-profit organizations. And, as a matter of fact, even many for-profit organizations refuse to arrest customers who owe bills.
jw also makes remarks that attempt to implicate the character of people who owe hospital bills, implying that many of them prefer to spend their money on booze and cigarettes rather than their bills. Well, suppose this is sometimes true -- so what? It so happens that the government, both state and federal, heavily tax booze and cigarettes. Such regressive taxes fall more heavily on the shoulders of the poor than the rich. So why shouldn't government use some of this money to pay the hospital bills that the poor can't afford? After all, a large chunk of this money came from the poor to begin with!
It is also implied that "failure to appear in court" is an indication that these people have no serious intention of paying their hospital bills. First of all, many people who have been subjected to arrest already have paid a substantial portion of their hospital bills, either through health insurance policies that failed to pay all of the expenses, or out of their own pockets. Another problem here is that hospitals charge people without health insurance the highest price for health care services -- in some cases, the uninsured reportedly pay up to 8 times the actual cost of these services. If hospitals are sending bloated, outrageous bills to the uninsured, then why should they be expected to pay such bills? I think the practice of overcharging the uninsured may be a deliberate attempt to discourage them from seeking treatment at the same hospital again. In other words, this may be an indirect method of denying health care services to them.
As for the court system, it is subject to abuse by some attorneys. Consider the example of Mr. Bean: He appeared in court 13 times during a 4-year period before he failed to make an appearance, upon which the attorney representing the hospital had him arrested (it is NOT the judge that instigates the arrest in such cases; this is only done if the attorney representing the hospital requests it). What makes this case even more interesting, the attorney representing the hospital didn't always show up for these court hearings -- needless to say, this attorney wasn't arrested for his negligence. When Mr. Bean was arrested, he was sent to jail and had to post bail. For this purpose, he received $300 from his brother. At the next court hearing, the attorney representing the hospital requested this bail money as a payment toward the hospital debt, even though it wasn't Mr. Bean's money to begin with. The judge granted this request, and consequently the brother of Mr. Bean lost $300. Considering that Mr. Bean was summoned to court on so many occasions over the same debt within the span of a few years, it seems to me that he was subjected to a form of legal harassment by the attorney representing the hospital. Considering that each court hearing probably costs the taxpayers about $300 (for a total cost of about $4000 across the dozen or so hearings), this does not seem like a very efficient way to collect a debt. As a matter of fact, it might be cheaper for the county to pay Mr. Bean's hospital bills than to fiddle around with these never-ending court hearings.
It is simply unconscionable that a non-profit hospital should have its clients subjected to this kind of harassment on its behalf. We provide such hospitals with exemptions from property taxes, exemptions from corporate taxes, free public utilities, free fire and police protection, government-subsidized research, hundreds of community volunteers, and other benefits, and this is the way they treat members of the community? |
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