Probe looks at hospital bills for uninsured

Mark Sherman

Thursday, July 17, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Republican lawmakers began an investigation Wednesday of hospital billing practices that charge uninsured patients far more than insurance companies do for the same services.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is asking the 20 largest hospital systems for extensive information about their pricing systems. "We're targeting a problem, not a company or an industry," said Ken Johnson, the committee spokesman. "The people who can least afford it are paying full sticker price for some hospital services."

The investigation grew out of allegations by an advocacy group for Hispanic patients that the two largest for-profit hospital chains, Nashville-based HCA and Tenet Healthcare Corp. of Santa Barbara, Calif., subjected uninsured patients to price-gouging.

The Los-Angeles based group, Consejo de Latinos Unidos, said uninsured patients are charged up to five times what insurance companies typically pay for the same procedures and services.

Tenet, facing a lawsuit and pressure from the federal government, agreed earlier this year to change its policies. The group said in a new report issued Wednesday that HCA has offered only "superficial" relief.

HCA has disputed the group's claims, which the company said ignore efforts to work with patients who have unpaid bills.

Tenet owns Lake Mead Hospital in North Las Vegas and HCA has two hospitals in Las Vegas with a third under construction.

Typically, only the working poor are charged full retail prices by hospitals. Big health plans can bargain for discounts for patients they insure and the federal government covers the poorest and elderly Americans. About 41 million Americans are uninsured.

Hospitals increasingly seek payment upfront from uninsured patients and aggressively try to collect money after they go home, because they want to recoup some of their costs. In 2001, hospitals provided $21.5 billion in uncompensated care, according to the American Hospital Association.