Letter from Robert Tilford to Kansas State Senator Janice Lee regarding the overcharging of the poor and uninsured by the hospital in Rush County, Kansas 2007. Click to enlarge.
I met with a friend recently who railed against Obama-care and how this was going to ruin the country if it wasn’t repealed?
I had to remind him that because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, there are millions of people insured today who might not otherwise be, especially if Republicans in Congress had their way.
I told him that back in 2007 hospitals were absolutely ruthless in their predatory business practices toward the poor and uninsured.
I saw this first hand in Rush County, Kansas where the hospital would routinely overcharged the poor and uninsured for medical services.
In fact they charged people different prices for the same medical procedure or service depending upon which type of insurance they had or didn’t have. Which in my mind is totally unfair.
In the case of uninsured patients the hospital were charging as much as 1/3rd more than someone with Medicaid or Medicare for the same medical procedure preformed by the same doctor?
I remember the hospital board at the time was perfectly OK with doing that.
In fact they saw nothing unethical in what they did.
Neither did the Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline, who I begged to investigate this situation.
Making matters worse the hospital would gleefully submit any and all delinquent patient billings for collections every 30-60 days on average.
Not to mention the fact that the hospital used to hire lawyers to do nothing more than sue their friends and neighbors in Rush County for delinquent hospital bills. And sue they did!
The hospital even sued those uninsured people who were on food stamps at the time they received medical care and treatment.
I don’t recall exactly how many people the hospital located at 801 Locust street in La Crosse, Kansas ruined financially – but I know it was a lot.
See related video: Seeking Method in Madness of Hospital Billing Disparities http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btkq1PPRcIg
See video: Sicko http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2sFT7T0mCs and Hospital billing practices hurting people http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El2wmNV2K_M