Judgments against patients in these suits can derail someone's life but, according to experts, they don't bring hospitals much money. So why do they do it?
This podcast was published on Thursday, December 14, 2023 at KFF Health News.
Some hospitals sue patients over unpaid medical bills in bulk, sometimes by the hundreds of thousands. The defendants are often already facing financial hardship or even bankruptcy.
Judgments against patients in these suits can derail someone's life but, according to experts, they don't bring hospitals much money.
Host Dan Weissmann investigates this practice with The Baltimore Banner and Scripps News and speaks to patients who've found themselves on the receiving end of such lawsuits.
Weissmann also speaks with Nick McLaughlin, an entrepreneur who’s making the business case for hospitals to stop trying to collect money from people who simply don't have it.
Dan Weissmann
@danweissmann
KFF Health News is a national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.