A $229,000 medical bill goes to court

An Arm and a Leg

Society & Culture, Medicine, Health, Health & Fitness, Documentary

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2023

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before her surgery, a hospital told Lisa French she would end up owing them $1,337. After insurance paid them — more than they’d expected — the hospital billed her $229,000. And sued her for it.

Her case went all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court.

The questions before the court, and how they ruled, have potentially major implications for our legal rights when it comes to fighting unfair medical bills — and how some hospitals might be thinking about their next move.

Here’s a transcript of the episode.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, Lisa French was a clerk for a trucking company in Denver.
0:04.2	She'd been in a car crash and her doctor told her that to keep her spine stable, she
0:08.4	had to get surgery.
0:10.4	She asked the folks at the hospital what it was going to cost her out of pocket.
0:13.6	They ran her insurance and they told her, you're in, it's going to be $1,336.90.
0:21.6	Then she and her husband sat down at their kitchen table and talked it over.
0:24.8	They had a rainy day fund, $1,000 they'd stocked away, they kept it at home in cash.
0:29.9	Were they ready to spend it all for this?
0:33.1	They decided they were, Lisa went to the hospital with a $1,000 cash.
0:36.4	She had the surgery, went fine.
0:39.2	The hospital had been expecting about $55,000 from Lisa's insurance.
0:43.1	They actually got more, like $74,000.
0:47.2	They decided that wasn't enough.
0:50.0	They decided they wanted their full sticker price, $303,000.
0:56.2	So they billed Lisa French for the rest, $229,000.
1:01.2	And when they didn't get it, they sued her.
1:04.8	Lisa French had her surgery in 2014.
1:07.3	The court case finally got resolved last year in 2022 by the Colorado Supreme Court.
1:13.4	If you've been listening to this show for a while, you probably remember, we have got
1:17.8	a very interested in understanding when we get a wild medical bill, what legal rights
1:23.0	do we have?
1:24.4	How can we use those rights to fight back, even on a small scale, like in small claims
	...

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