December 8, 2022 (Syracuse, NY) – Today, the coalition to End Medical Debt will host a town hall meeting on hospital financial aid and the pervasive problem of medical debt. The Coalition will release a new report on Upstate University Hospital’s practice of suing patients for outstanding medical bills and hear testimony by members of the public who have applied to a hospital’s financial aid system and/or have experienced healthcare inaccessibility, medical debt and financial hardship resulting from the cost of healthcare.
Town Hall meeting on medical debt and hospital financial aid
Thursday, December 8th
5:00pm
Beauchamp Branch Library
2111 S. Salina Street, Syracuse, NY
The End Medical Debt Campaign:
Elisabeth Benjamin, VP Health Policy, Community Service Society
Rev. Eric Jackson, President, Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse (ACTS)
Syracuse United Neighbors
Citizen Action of New York
Syracuse Democratic Socialists of America
Public attendees and participants (patients, care givers, families)
Central New York hospitals have engaged in these aggressive collections practices at higher rates than other hospitals in the state. Between 2015 and 2020, Crouse Hospital sued at least 5,596 patients. According to a new report, Upstate Hospital sues more patients for medical debt than any other hospital in the state—as many as 1,500 patients a year. In Onondaga County, medical debt and its negative repercussions affects communities of color two and half times more than their white counterparts: in majority white zip codes, 11 percent of residents have medical debt in collections compared to 26 percent of residents in communities of color.
Annually, New York’s nonprofit hospitals receive $1.1 billion in Indigent Care Pool (ICP) funds to support uncompensated care. In exchange for these ICP funds, hospitals must have a financial aid program. In reality many hospitals don’t make their financial aid programs accessible to patients and often neglect to inform patients of the program. This Town hall will explore patients’ experiences dealing with the healthcare billing and financial aid systems.
