These hospitals claim to care about community health, but sue patients, garnish wages, and seize houses

#1 Shkreli Award Winner, 2019 Nonprofit hospitals are meant to not only provide health care services, but to contribute to community health and wellbeing. But many hospitals have ruined countless families’ financial security and livelihoods, by suing thousands of patients for unpaid medical bills. Some hospitals go as far as to garnish their wages and repossess their assets. Among these litigious hospitals are the UVA Medical Center, Mary Washington Hospital, Carlsbad Medical Center, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, and Ballad Health.

SOURCES: Jay Hancock and Elizabeth Lucas, Kaiser Health News; Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR; Laura Beil, NY Times; Wendi C Thomas, ProPublica; Eli Saslow, the Washington Post; Tara Bannow, Modern Healthcare

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