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I understand that hospitals are businesses, and they are subject to the same economic pressures as any other industry, but cases of spiraling medical debt for the uninsured are becoming truly shocking. In the absence of insurance or cash in hand, the hospital may provide a separate finance agreement that may come with undisclosed interest rates. People in the middle of a health crisis may not stop to shop around for the best rate. They may not be in the best position to make sure they understand all the terms of the agreement. Their emergent situation can get them into staggering debt with astronomical interest rates. Multiply this a couple thousand times over and what you have is a crisis in medical debt for the uninsured. Some hospital CFOs see this practice as perfectly reasonable. Katrina Wheeler, the CFO at Satilla hospital, was quoted in BusinessWeek as saying: "If you go to the dentist or the vet, you know you have to pay. If you go to the hospital, why should it be different?" (Dec 3, pg 41)
Wheelers statement equates humans with pets. No wonder medical debt for the uninsured is ballooning. Like I said in the beginning, I understand hospitals are businesses, and doctors and nurses need to get paid, too. But they also have a social responsibility. As Chris McLean, CFO of another hospital put it, "We get a lot of tax breaks, and for that we should produce some community benefit" (pg. 41).
About this poster:
Posted by:
vwalker
(female, 40-ish)
(Posted 11/26/07)
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Medical Debt for the Uninsured -- Adding Insolvency to Injury
