A sensible rule

Published 11:27 am Wednesday, June 27, 2012

As a rule, we see new government regulations as far more of a burden than a benefit. In a rare exception, we agree with a Treasury Department plan to put limits on the ability of non-profit hospitals to collect debts from people who are being treated in the emergency room.

The proposed rule presumably stems from a now-infamous case in which a contractor for Fairview Health Systems in the Twin Cities attempted to collect debts from patients awaiting treatment in the emergency room. There’s no reason that hospitals, just like any other organization or business, shouldn’t be paid what they are owed; failing to pay a healthcare debt is as wrong as failing to pay any other obligation. But collecting in a way that suggests one’s ability to get treated in an emergency is at stake is clearly going beyond acceptable tactics. Nor are emergency room patients likely to be in a mental state conducive to making good decisions. Simply put, emergency patients are too vulnerable to be subjected to strong-arm collection tactics.

Nor do those who need emergency treatment have access to a consumer’s usual recourse: Finding a different place to do business. Emergency patients sometimes have no choice, and often have limited choice, about where to get their healthcare services.

Email newsletter signup

All in all, protecting emergency room patients from over-zealous bill collectors seems like a good idea.