PI: Injured and now my Hospital wants to sue me rather than take my health insurance.

Often people first call our office out of concern over payment for large medical expenses as a result of an automobile collision that was not their fault.  The law in North Carolina after the passage of HB542 and SB 586 has changed and only a portion of any bill, that amount that is neccessary to satisfy a medical bill, is admissible to prove evidence of medical expenses. Rule 414 Evidence of medical expenses. Evidence offered to prove past medical expenses shall be limited to evidence of the amounts actually paid to satisfy the bills that have been satisfied, regardless of the source of payment, and evidence of the amounts actually necessary to satisfy the bills that have been incurred but not yet satisfied. In the real world, many clients debate whether or not to use their health insurance to pay their medical bills after an injury.  They don’t want to use the insurance because it was not their fault, they are afraid of higher premiums and don’t want to have the hassle of filing the insurance.  Often, many hospitals take that decision away from the patient by refusing to bill the health insurance regardless of whether the patient would like it billed or whether the patient has already paid for health insurance that should pay the bill. Many insurance companies, such as Medicare, are secondary payors.  That means they pay only if no one else pays.  However, even Medicare states that when a bill is left over 120 days it shall become primary and pay.  In these situations, insurance such as Medicare of the State Health Plan is entitled to obtain reimbursement for all the bills paid by them by the third party at the end of the case. Regardless of the reimbursement provisions (called subrogation) many hosptials take the decision away from the injured party and refuse to bill the person’s health insurance hoping for a greater recovery from the at fault party in the collision.  However, the hospital doesn’t take the risk of the patient recovering the amount from the at fault person’s insurance, instead they often make claims against and sue the patient for the unpaid bill, even though they could have accepted the insurance. The Charlotte Observer has recently written a series of articles on these not-for-profit hospitals suing uninsured persons for their unpaid medical expenses.  Articles.  Another article by the Charlotte Observer even references a veteran with tri-care insurance whom they sued because they could not properly bill the insurance.  Article 2.  In another article Duke University failed to properly code an insurance bill and hired a collection agency to hound and call repediatly a couple who had proper insurance.  Article 3. Forbes Magazine has chosen to call this the Tort-Reform for Hospitals.  In their article they describe that not-for-profit hospitals are obtaining significant benefit from directly suing their patients rather than working with the insurance companies or using low paying health insurance such as Medicaid. Our clients, and many other persons injured through no fault of their own  should worry.  Just because you have been financially stable and smart, it will not prevent