Hey, it’s the BEST time to support this show with a donation. Thanks to NewsMatch, any gift you make, up to $1,000, will be doubled. It’s a great deal, and it will set us up to kick maximum butt in 2024. Here’s the link, go for it!
We’ve been working on this investigation all year, with our partners at Scripps News and the Baltimore Banner.
For years, we’ve been hearing about hospitals suing patients over unpaid medical bills – sometimes even in bulk, by the hundreds or thousands at a time.
Many of the patients getting sued are already facing financial hardship, or like one couple we interviewed, already in bankruptcy.
Judgments against patients in these suits can be life changing. But according to experts, these lawsuits don’t recoup a ton of lost revenue for hospitals. So why do they happen? And what if hospitals stopped doing it completely?
In this episode, we talk to a former sales rep for a medical-debt collections agency — who now steers hospitals away from efforts to collect money, via lawsuits or other means, from folks who just don’t have it.
He tells hospitals: This is better for your bottom line.
Stay tuned for part two, coming in two weeks.
… and to preview some of what’s in it — plus a whole lot more excellent reporting — check out the Baltimore Banner’s story: Maryland hospitals stopped suing patients with unpaid bills. Will they start again?
This series is produced in partnership with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York.
… and supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
OOH: And don’t forget. It’s prime time to make a donation and support this show.
Here’s a transcript of this episode.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mental health ‘ghost networks’ — and a ghost-buster
A $229,000 medical bill goes to court
A doctor’s love letter to ‘the People’s Hospital’
Lessons from “wrestling with a giant”
The bill looked like BS. So she took it to small claims court.
Can They Freaking Do That?!? (2023 Edition)
2022 in Review
Like pulling teeth.
The best video about health insurance, ever
Health insurance post-Roe, and a grassroots network of abortion funds
A listener asks: Could NOT having insurance be a better deal?
Quick update from Arm and a Leg HQ
California plans to make its own insulin and sell it super-cheap. Really.
Congress fixed (a piece of) Medicare. It only took a few decades.
The Medical-bill "Negotiation Lab"
The Genetic Testing ‘Bait-and-Switch’
One ER Doc’s Journey Through the Pandemic — and the Health Care System
These docs are trying to kick private equity out of their ER
Credit Where It’s Due
“The Golden Age of Older Rectums” (for investors)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Freakonomics Radio
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
Criminal
Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World