Sorry grandma, before we admit you, these past due invoices need to be paid.
The New York Times reported that many hospitals have turned their Emergency Room admissions staff over to debt collectors. Under the new debt management team, it is not an uncommon practice to ask for payment of old debt, in addition to payment for new services, before being admitted.
Welcome to America without healthcare reform.
Can you really blame the hospitals for being aggressive about collecting debt? Even non-profit hospitals need money to pay the bills. When you have people with no health insurance using the ER as their primary care, the most expensive type of medical care, can we be surprised at the amount of unpaid hospital bills?
Your heart breaks to think of a mother being badgered for payment of past due invoices when her child is having an asthma attack. Without healthcare reform it will only get worse. Doctors and hospitals will have to get more aggressive with collections as margins get squeezed under additional government regulations.
Of course, some folks will argue that the doctors and hospital management make exorbitant amounts of money and they can deal with the loss. Their pay is not the issue. Our healthcare system is arranged to allow providers to be compensated for their services and maximize the return on their investments. Hence, they are going to attempt to collect as much as possible.
I must admit that I had a small smirk on my face when I read the article. I was struck with the irony of someone who adamantly opposes healthcare reform and the individual mandate being confronted with a bulldog debt collector at their next ER visit.
But it is getting nasty all the way around. State governments are arguing with insurers about covering services like autism treatment, insurance companies have nasty negotiations with hospitals over reimbursement rates and now the hospitals are playing hardball with emergency room patients. This is the acrimonious and rocky road we are on unless healthcare reform kicks in.