Despite growing evidence of the harm caused by medical debt, an investigation found hundreds of U.S. hospitals maintain policies to aggressively pursue patients for unpaid bills.
Basit Balogun was a freshman at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania when a heart attack caused by a previously undetected birth defect landed him in the hospital. Because his insurance had lapsed, Balogun, whose family is from Nigeria, was hit with bills amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.
Nick and Elizabeth Woodruff also had their faith shaken by hospital debt collectors. Nick was sued by Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital in Binghamton, New York, where he’d received care for a dangerous foot infection. “This hospital boasts Catholic values and states they take pride in their charity work,” said Elizabeth, a social worker, “but I am taken aback by how callous they have been.”
Hospital leaders also stress the industry’s commitment to helping low-income patients and others who can’t pay their bills. “Hospitals are doing a lot,” said Melinda Hatton, general counsel at the American Hospital Association. “Is it perfect out there? No. But I think they should get credit for trying pretty hard.”
The University of Mississippi Medical Center disclosed its policy only after KHN filed a public records request. Many hospitals prominently place a link on their homepages for patients to pay a bill, but then require people to click through multiple pages to find information about financial aid.Patient Resources
About two-thirds of the hospitals researched by KHN require patients to report their assets, sometimes in great detail. Centura-St. Anthony Hospital, a Catholic medical center in suburban Denver, notes in
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