A rallying cry to shield patients
Report: Hospitals file liens against homes, paychecks
Advocates rallied Monday at the state Capitol for the Legislature to pass a bill prohibiting hospitals from going after patients’ homes and paychecks to collect outstanding bills.
The End Medical Debt Coalition and lawmakers urged the Senate to pass legislation that protects patients from liens against their primary residence and wage garnishment due to money judgments arising from medical debt.
The accompanying Assembly bill passed the chamber in March.
The legislation “would help prevent onerous medical debt collection, which disproportionately impacts the poor & New Yorkers of color — who are already nearly twice as likely as white New Yorkers to face medical debt,” said Beth Finkel, state director for AARP New York.
Nonprofit hospitals have filed more than 4,800 liens against patients’ homes between 2017 and 2018, a report from Community Service Society found. Advocates also found that patients who see their wages garnished over medical debt are primarily low-wage workers who work retail and service jobs. (A lien is a legal claim against the property as collateral to ensure the repayment of debt.)
The practice is common among large hospital systems that sue patients for back-owed debt and win, including in the Capital Region, according to the report.
Statewide, St. Peter’s Health Partners took out the most liens during that period, impacting the homes of nearly 1,000 patients. The Albanybased hospital system was followed by the Long Island-based Northwell Health, which placed 830 liens during that time. Northwell stopped suing patients over bills debt in 2019 after CSS began investigating the practice.
A spokesperson for St. Peter’s Health Partners said when the report was released in November the hospital system no longer files lawsuits or liens on patients’ property to recover unpaid bills.
The practice of taking liens out on patients’ homes is most widespread among hospitals in 15 counties, including four in the Capital Region. In 2017 and 2018, Albany Medical Center and its affiliates filed liens on the homes of 482 patients, Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville filed 358 liens, and Ellis Hospital in Schenectady filed 230, the report shows.
During the same period, the hospitals placing liens collectively received over $442 million in state Indigent Care Pool funds that are awarded to help hospitals offset the costs of uncompensated care and provide financial assistance to patients who need it, according to the report. That is an estimated 48 times more than the medical debt they sought to secure through filing liens on patients’ homes, CCS found.
Ten states and jurisdictions have protections on the family home, including Arkansas, Washington D.C., Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Texas.