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Started By
Message
Arkansas hospital lawyers up, sues for medical debt
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:33 am
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:33 am
Arkansas hospital sued thousands of patients over medical bills
Long read, not quoting everything.
Not sure how to feel on this one. Seems like a bad look, sending out random lawsuits for small amounts of money that likely doesn’t make a difference.
On the other hand, frick people using the hospital like their PCP and expecting shite to be free. Pay up or take better care of yourself
quote:
UAMS, Arkansas’ flagship public health sciences university, has been aggressively suing thousands of former patients over medical debt in recent years, including hundreds of its own employees, a CNN investigation found. Since 2019, UAMS has sued more than 8,000 patients to collect on unpaid medical bills, according to court records. It filed more debt collection lawsuits in recent years than any other plaintiff in the Arkansas court system other than the state tax office.
quote:
Patterson said that UAMS does not collect debt owed by patients with a household income less than 200% of the federal poverty level – a total of about $60,000 for a family of four – or people who are unemployed or on Medicaid or Medicare. Each year, he said, the university writes off about $100 million in medical care for people who can’t afford to pay. And people who are not eligible for free care can set up payment plans to avoid lawsuits, in some cases paying as little as $5 or $10 per month, he said.
Long read, not quoting everything.
Not sure how to feel on this one. Seems like a bad look, sending out random lawsuits for small amounts of money that likely doesn’t make a difference.
On the other hand, frick people using the hospital like their PCP and expecting shite to be free. Pay up or take better care of yourself
37
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:36 am to WaydownSouth
pay your debts
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:37 am to WaydownSouth
People need to pay their bills
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:38 am to WaydownSouth
quote:
Not sure how to feel on this one. Seems like a bad look, sending out random lawsuits for small amounts of money that likely doesn’t make a difference.
What?
All that does is reinforce the idea that people shouldn't have to pay for debts that they owe.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:38 am to WaydownSouth
Some hospitals are being forced to close because too many people can't or won't pay their bills.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:41 am to WaydownSouth
quote:
Not sure how to feel on this one.
I mean, if you can afford to pay it, you should pay it. Hospitals have really consumer-friendly payment plans, too.
But I mean, if you get hit with a $75,000 bill for some catastrophe and can't afford it, I'm not going to clutch my pearls if you let it go.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:42 am to WaydownSouth
Do you pay to service your car? Do you pay your vet?
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:44 am to LRB1967
quote:
Some hospitals are being forced to close because too many people can't or won't pay their bills.
Maybe more people could afford insurance it Obamacare didn't mess up the marketplace
Also, hospitals need to quit charging $50 for a single aspirin then maybe things would be more affordable
Healthcare is screwed all around
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:45 am to WaydownSouth
quote:
Seems like a bad look, sending out random lawsuits for small amounts of money that likely doesn’t make a difference.
Not collecting on small amounts is a recipe for disaster as they snowball into larger amounts. Pay your bills.
That being said, frick the insurance system as a whole for its unnecessarily complicated processes that bloat the entire system. If I ask you how much it’s going to cost, you shouldn’t have to answer with “well, it depends…”
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:45 am to WaydownSouth
I have shitty insurance with a high deductible
I’ve also had 3 surgeries in the last year that I paid all the bills on
I don’t feel bad for these people, you learn to do without in order to pay your debts
One of the surgeries was a 8-10 minute procedure but I had to be put under
They came in with a lidocaine shot to give before doing the IV & a Valium to rest until it was my turn in the OR
I refused both
Seems like they are adding stuff on to bill that isn’t needed
I’ve also had 3 surgeries in the last year that I paid all the bills on
I don’t feel bad for these people, you learn to do without in order to pay your debts
quote:
Also, hospitals need to quit charging $50 for a single aspirin then maybe things would be more affordable
One of the surgeries was a 8-10 minute procedure but I had to be put under
They came in with a lidocaine shot to give before doing the IV & a Valium to rest until it was my turn in the OR
I refused both
Seems like they are adding stuff on to bill that isn’t needed
This post was edited on 9/13/23 at 8:50 am
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:47 am to WaydownSouth
quote:
Each year, he said, the university writes off about $100 million in medical care for people who can’t afford to pay
Yikes. That's not a good sign of the state's economy on so many levels.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 8:49 am to slackster
quote:
frick the insurance system as a whole for its unnecessarily complicated processes that bloat the entire system
It's not all their fault. Some of the charges for simple things in hospitals are ludicrous. Also, there shouldn't be an insurance price and a cash price. There should just be a price. Hospitals raping insurance companies just because they can is out of control.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 9:06 am to TigerintheNO
quote:
pay your debts
i agree with this. however the only debt i've ever not payed was a hospital bill
i have multiple instances of our local hospital inflating costs, not posting payments despite taking the money, sending something to collections when they showed that they received payments.
my wife had two invasive foot surgeries at $140k a foot. insurance took care of most obviously but we were paying it off in incremental payments. never missed a payment.
one of her screws came lose and started protruding through the skin. Dr. said come in and we'll get it fixed.
15 minute process, no stitches even. didn't even sign paperwork. in and out.
get a bill for $8k. i call and ask for a justification. they say "no, pay it." I say that's ridiculous and we won't pay this unless i see a line item bill justifying $32k/hour of work. they say no. and i say "i know you are recording this, if this comes to collections, you have no paperwork that we agreed to pay this. I've asked for that. I've also asked for a line item bill and you've refused to provide that. We will continue to pay for our initial surgery, but you're committing fraud."
"we'll get back to you." they do not.
we continue to make payments for the initial surgery and then i get a call from collections saying we haven't made a payment. I say "no we have." and they say that they stopped putting payments toward the initial surgery and started putting them towards the second one that i've refused and now the initial surgery has gone into collections."
i say "I will not be making any payments to anybody until i get paperwork saying i agreed to pay for this second procedure as well as the line item bill." I call the hospital and tell them the same.
never heard a word from either organization again. i called the main hospital a year later to check and they have 0 record of us being in bad financial standing with them.
complete frads.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 9:08 am to WaydownSouth
This is why I cap my income at 199% above the poverty level.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 9:10 am to GetCocky11
quote:
Hospitals have really consumer-friendly payment plans, too.
Yup. Its pretty easy to call their billing office and say "I can pay X amount a month." They're usually happy that you plan on paying the bill and took the initiative to call them.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 9:11 am to WaydownSouth
quote:
UAMS has sued more than 8,000 patients to collect on unpaid medical bills, according to court records.
Good. Healthcare costs balloon because a large percentage of people just simply don’t pay, so the hospitals factor this into pricing, making it significantly more expensive for everyone, and the cycle continues.
This said, if they start collecting and non-pays start dropping, the hospital needs to lower costs to account for this. I’m not holding my breath.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 9:14 am to GetCocky11
quote:
But I mean, if you get hit with a $75,000 bill for some catastrophe and can't afford it, I'm not going to clutch my pearls if you let it go.
I bet you would if it was a single earner making $60k a year. Better make that baw pony up and lose his house, but the non-earners get off scott free with a thank you, come again
Posted on 9/13/23 at 9:19 am to WaydownSouth
quote:
Not sure how to feel on this one
I will help you out.
medical care is a service that requires others labor. if you dont pay them, well thats slavery.
Pay your fricking debts.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 9:22 am to dgnx6
quote:
medical care is a service that requires others labor.
Insurance pays them a frick ton already on my behalf.
Posted on 9/13/23 at 9:26 am to WaydownSouth
What would Dave do, would tell you to get to work and pay your debts
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