My colleague Brian Rosenthal, an investigative reporter, found that the nonprofit healthcare system, which operates 23 hospitals, processed more than 2,500 patients last year, for an average bill of $ 1,700, plus high interest payments. The flood of lawsuits has hit teachers, construction workers, grocery workers and others in a time of widespread unemployment.
Across the state, Brian found that about 50 hospitals have processed nearly 5,000 patients since March, but Northwell stands out for its aggressive number of lawsuits and its connections with Cuomo. Northwell CEO Michael Dowling has been a close friend of Cuomo for more than three decades and was the governor’s closest ally in the hospital sector during the pandemic.
Lawsuits for medical debts are becoming more common across the country, as health care costs have increased and insurers are pushing the financial burden on patients further. These cases are rarely challenged in court and often lead to defaulted judgments that allow hospitals to garnish salaries and freeze accounts to extract money, sometimes without the patient’s knowledge.
Resurgences
Here is a summary of restrictions in all 50 states.
What else are we following
What are you doing
To deal? I’ve been home for eight months. I’m not dealing anymore. I’m just surviving, day after day. I always wake up angry, I go to bed angry. I can not take it anymore. It got to the point that I just don’t care if I’m going to be sick or not. I really want to go out and see people, socialize. The only reason for not doing this is because I live with my father and I was not able to put him in danger. Still, this correction was much worse than the problem, in my experience, from day one.
– Gabriel Luciano Oliveira Mattos, Aracaju, Brazil
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Carole Landry contributed to today’s newsletter.
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