Unconscionable?

While we await the Supreme court’s verdict on
Obamacare, here comes another a glimpse into the Pre-
Obamacare we enjoy right now.

The Minnesota Attorney General has released a report on
a hospital debt collection company which came up with a
sure-fire way to make sure patients pay up: embedding
their debt collectors in delivery rooms, cancer wards,
even emergency rooms.

And it worked. Marcia Newton’s 3-year-old son Max was
on his way into surgery when out of nowhere…

“As one nurse was putting on Max’s wristband for his
surgery, another employee was taking my credit card to
process my payment,” said Newton.

The Minnesota Attorney General calls this
unconscionable. But when I turn in a rental car, for
example, and the person runs out to the car with the bill,
before I even get out, that’s considered a convenience.
Maybe the hospitals figures it’s just more convenient to
bill you as the anesthesia is dripping.

That’s not the way Minnesota Attorney General Lori
Swanson sees it, of course:

“Patients were treated like a figure on a balance sheet
and the more they collected, the more money the
shareholders of Accretive made,” said Swanson.

But if the Supreme Court decides government can’t force
people to buy health insurance, the hospitals will still
have to be paid. And as I read the tea leaves, the last
thing Americans want is some bureaucrat bossing around our
health care providers.

We’ll get used to it. Just duct tape your credit card
where the surgeon can scan it.