My visit to the ER yesterday

[dflprincess]

74. Is the outfit the hospital uses to gather financial info is named Accretive Health?

Nearly a year ago the Minnesota Attorney General went after Fairview Hospitals and Clinics and Accretive because they were using methods that sound similar to your story (see link).

http://m.startribune.com/news/?id=148697255&c=y

Accretive is a Chicago based outfit & Rahm Emmanuel tried to get AG to back off them (Rahm met his match in Lori Swanson):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1059574

Several years ago, my mom wound up in Fairview's ER and they tried this shit on her which really upset her and made her ask if she should just leave because she couldn't afford any out of pocket. Fortunately, I was there and I knew she was not required to cough any cash at that time (because she had Medicare and a program called Minnesota Senior Health Options, not even a deductible) I chased the money changer out of the area and told her if mom couldn't pay her medical bill she'd just declare bankruptcy as that's the American Way.

Long story short, they are no longer doing business in Minnesota in fact I think they are banned from it for a number of years.

When Mom was in ER last spring they only checked her insurance cards. When I wound up in a Fairview ER a few weeks ago with a broken wrist because my doctor is at one of their clinics, they didn't even ask to see my insurance card or ask for the $100 deductible I owed them (and still haven't received a bill for).

Things can change when enough noise gets made. The reason this came to light is that people complained to the AG's office.

It may be worth your while to file a complaint with your state AG or whoever might have over site of matters like this. I know it can vary from state to state.