Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan proposed two bills today to help consumers deal with rising health care costs. As we discussed earlier on CreditBloggers.com, health care billing practices are often unfair, Americans pay the most for their health care and patient debts are sold too quickly to collection agencies. Today’s new proposed bills address some of these issues:
- Tax-Exempt Hospital Responsibility Act: This bill proposes that non-profit hospitals would have to deliver a minimum total annual amount of charity care, calculated as 8% of hospital operating costs. Non-profit hospitals receive large tax breaks in exchange for their promise to provide charity care. However, hospitals in Illinois spent less than 1% on charity care in 2003. The 1.8 million uninsured in Illinois would benefit greatly from this bill.
- Hospital Fair Billing and Collection Practices Act: This bill proposes new regulations about the use of collection practices in Illinois hospitals. Included in these regulations are rights for consumers to dispute bills and an approval process for any medical debt wage garnishments or liens. Currently, health care providers have very little regulation over the way they sell debts to collections agencies.
The downside? These bills only apply to Illinois. According to a Forbes report, 77 million people nationwide have had medical bill problems in the last 12 months. The time has come for bills such as these to be introduced on a national level. For more information about Madigan or these bills, visit the Illinois attorney general website or the Chicago Sun-Times. Madigan has also made news recently by working to assist identity theft victims, protect cell phone record privacy and prevent mortgage foreclosure scams.
What do you think of these proposed bills? Share your opinion in the comments section below.
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Lisa Madigan is doing a terrific job. When I worked for a company that handled both the insurance company collections end of things as well as the patient collections, I learned how sleazy some of these collection agencies are. In fact, I quit! As did many others (their turnover was ridiculous).
These agencies have low-class supervisors making fun of the patients, the clients themselves, and I quite frequently heard someone referring to people as “retarded” in front of staffers. It was an unprofessional hell and left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Many of the reps who try to get the insurance carriers to pay the claims were overloaded with claims in understaffed departments, so I’m sure that many of the accounts were not worked properly and completely before they were just closed and the bill then sent to the patient for whatever the insurance company wasn’t going to pay.
It is high time that more oversight was legislated, so I hope this takes off at the national level and not just in Illinois.
Please support efforts for reform if you live in Illinois, and please agitate for reform if you live in a different state by contacting your Attorney General.
Thank you for the great comments! Your history with the collection world certainly gives you a unique perspective!
Has anyone ever checked hospital websites in Illinois to see if they are following the Fair Patient Billing Act Law, that our wonderful Lisa Madigan provided for us? The law clearly states that if a hospital has a website, (they all do) then the hospital must post a notice in a prominent place on their website that financial assistance is available at the hospital, a description of the app process, AND a copy of the financial assistance application.
I think this law needs to be enforced. It would help so many people, because some are too ashamed to ask for help in person. The big thing is, if hospitals want to keep their not-for-profit status than they should have to follow the regulations like everyone else. I know they think they’re big business but the rules should be enforced.