The (Jeffersonville) News and Tribune (TNS)
More than one in six Hoosiers are in collections for medical debt, the highest rate in the Midwest.
That’s according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as reported by the Indiana Capital Chronicle in an eye-opening story about the stagnant charitable care provided by the state’s nonprofit hospitals.
Hoosiers are facing a double-edged sword of high health care costs and a decrease in free or discounted care offered by nonprofit medical facilities. In 2012, Indiana nonprofit hospitals were giving 3 cents of every revenue dollar to charitable care. In 2022, that amount had dipped to just 1.5 cents, according to the Capital Chronicle.
Meanwhile those hospitals are seeing an increase in revenue while sending thousands of Hoosiers to court for unpaid medical bills, some as small as $250.
Some hospital chains such as IU Health have ceased sending patients to court over unpaid medical bills. Other nonprofit medical systems have filed as many as 10,000 debt lawsuits over the last five years, according to the Capital Chronicle analysis.
That’s a hard pill to swallow considering the state of health care in Indiana. Costs are high, gaps in coverage exist and inflation has put a strain on Hoosiers’ daily lives. Nonprofit hospitals are making more money but are doing less on average to help those who need assistance paying for medical care.
And where would these medical facilities be without good will? Think back four years ago when COVID-19 changed our lives. There was an outpouring of support for medical workers. Millions of COVID relief taxpayer dollars were given to Indiana hospitals, many of which were already doing quite well financially. But some of those same health systems are turning their backs on patients by not helping with medical costs, or at least being more lenient when it comes to collections.
Health insurance is also an issue. There are sizable out-of-pocket expenses associated with many insurance plans. Many Hoosiers struggle to pay for insurance, and are forced to buy a plan that’s cheaper monthly but costs them more in the long run.
Our state is also getting older, and many senior citizens live on a fixed income that could never account for astronomical medical bills.
Indiana has to figure out a way to drive medical costs down while ensuring that more Hoosiers are insured with quality plans. And if charitable care spending continues to dip while revenue increases, legislators need to take a hard look at the nonprofit status for medical institutions and any tax breaks given to those health systems.