Inquiry on hospital billing avoids larger questions on uninsured

Published: 2004-06-25

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Are current hospital billing and collection practices an unconscionable exploitation of the uninsured, as one congressman put it, or a few now-corrected mistakes that were based on misunderstanding of federal regulations? Or is the whole issue merely a symptom of bigger problems in a U.S. health care system that leaves more than 43 million Americans without health insurance? Those were the questions before a House subcommittee June 24 as representatives of Catholic hospitals and other nonprofit health care systems reported on how they bill the uninsured -- as opposed to patients with Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance -- and what kind of discounts and free care they offer to the poor. Rep. James C. Greenwood, R-Pa., chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce's subcommittee on oversight and investigations, said he called the hearing to look into reports that some hospitals were charging the uninsured two to four times as much as they charged other patients.

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