The New York Senate yesterday voted to approve a bill that would protect individuals from having liens placed on their primary residences and having their wages garnished to repay medical debts. The New York Assembly had already passed its version of the bill, and consumer advocates yesterday called on Gov. …
Read More »Report Spotlights States’ Efforts to Protect Consumers from ‘Heavy’ Medical Debt Burdens
Using a recently released report out of North Carolina, The Wall Street Journal yesterday published an article detailing how state legislatures across the country have enacted laws or are working on doing so in an effort to “limit aggressive debt-collection practices.” The Journal focuses its attention on many of the …
Read More »Too Many Consumers Still Unsatisfied With Healthcare Billing: Report
Healthcare patients are still “clamoring” for more advances to improve billing and payment solutions, according to the results of an annual survey conducted by Cedar, a healthcare financial engagement platform. Forty percent of respondents said they are not satisfied with their provider’s billing solutions, and another 40% said they are …
Read More »Study Calls Out Wisconsin Hospitals For Filing More Suits Against Minorities
Hospitals in Wisconsin filed 37% more collection lawsuits in 2018 than they did in 2001 and obtained garnishments in more than half of their cases, while also disproportionately suing individuals living in low-income neighborhoods and who are African-American, according to the results of a study that was published yesterday in …
Read More »The Racial Divide of Healthcare Debt
There is nobody who will disagree that there are problems with medical debt across America. From massively underestimating how much medical debt actually exists to hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country being called out for being too aggressive in trying to collect on unpaid debts — especially when the …
Read More »N.Y. Hospitals Called Out for Filing Liens On Unpaid Debts
A number of hospitals in New York state are being called out for filing liens on the homes of patients with unpaid medical debts, pointing out that the facilities collected $442 million to help them support patient financial assistance and calling the process an “extreme collection practice.” The report was …
Read More »Bad PR Leads to ‘Substantial’ Decrease in Medical Collection Suits: Study
The influx of media reports aimed at spotlighting “aggressive” collection efforts by hospitals and healthcare networks has led to a “substantial” decline in the number of lawsuits filed against individuals with unpaid healthcare debts, according to a new study. Looking at the number of collection lawsuits filed in Virginia before …
Read More »Mississippi Hospital Called out For Suing Patients With Unpaid Debts
A hospital is Mississippi is being called out for its aggressive debt collection practices of suing patients with unpaid medical debts, which is also being used to call for reforming how medical debts are collected in the state, including limiting the monthly payments for patients with unpaid debts owed to …
Read More »Hospitals Accused of Hounding Patients With ‘Predatory Billing’
A joint project by Johns Hopkins University and Axios concludes that “many of the top 100 hospitals by revenue in the U.S. use predatory tactics to pursue patients with unpaid bills,” referring to filing lawsuits against individuals who do not pay their medical debts. Ten hospitals are responsible for 97% …
Read More »Hospital Chain Called Out For Filing 19,000 Collection Suits During Pandemic
A hospital network that owns 84 facilities and is one of the largest hospital chains in the country is being called out for filing more than 19,000 collection lawsuits in the past 15 months following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, which makes them “far more …
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