Opinion

Editorial: Examine Connecticut hospitals’ debt collection practices

If you are having a heart attack, then you are not going to stop and think about whether you can afford medical treatment before rushing to the closest hospital. Nor should you.

Yet hundreds of patients in Connecticut are hauled to small claims courts by hospitals trying to extract payment, even though people often have no choice where or when to get emergency care.

The trend of higher-deductible health insurance plans is a culprit in forcing people to go into debt over necessary medical care, with the consequence of some hospitals resorting to court action to get paid. This is a trend that rightly is being scrutinized by the Connecticut High Deductible Health Plan Task Force.

Recently, the task force learned that one hospital in the state — Danbury Hospital — accounted for nearly half of all lawsuits brought by hospitals over unpaid bills in the state in 2016, the most recent year for total figures compiled by the UConn Health Disparity Institute.

It is out of proportion when one hospital has nearly half the number of the other 28 hospitals combined, an issue that demands scrutiny.

One day singled out in the report shows the scale of disparity. On May 3, 2017, Danbury Hospital had 607 active dockets in small claims courts (for debts up to $5,000); St. Francis Hospital in Hartford had 82, the next highest number. The fifth highest was Griffin Hospital in Derby with fewer than 50, followed slightly lower by Milford Hospital, according to a graph provided by the institute that did not contain exact numbers for all hospitals. The line chart shows, however, that Norwalk, Bridgeport, St. Vincent’s, Greenwich, Stamford and Yale New Haven hospitals had single digit or zero active lawsuits in small claims courts that day.

Though nonprofit community hospitals have to stay in business, at what cost to patients? Continuity of care and trust could be eroded. Danbury Hospital, now part of Nuvance health network that extends from the shore of Long Island Sound to the Hudson River, quickly said it would review collection data and policies.

Yale New Haven Hospital faced similar scrutiny in 2003 when then-Attorney General Richard Blumenthal charged the hospital used aggressive debt collection and patients filed a $100 million class action lawsuit. As a result, the hospital hasn’t brought any patient to court in years, the senior vice president for finance said.

Now a U.S. senator, Blumenthal is looking into Danbury Hospital’s practices, as is the state Office of Health Strategy. The policies of all hospitals should be examined for equity.

Hospitals do provide charity care to the poor — Danbury Hospital gave $13 million in free care last year. It is the insured with high deductibles who appear to bear the unfair brunt of debt over the cost of health care.

Reform insurance policies and either phase out high deductibles or provide more help to people who have them as a necessity to afford monthly insurance payments.