CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST SETTLEMENT OPPOSED    

SAN FRANCISCO, CA— A day after not-for-profit hospital giant Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) announced a proposed settlement of a lawsuit on hospital price gouging, the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national advocacy group that educates and assists the uninsured, vowed to oppose the proposed settlement and work to insure that the brokered deal “utterly collapses” if changes are not made.

“CHW failed to inform the media that another class-action lawsuit is still pending and that there is organized opposition to this sham of a settlement,” said K.B. Forbes, Executive Director of the Consejo. “Obviously, some trial lawyers appear to be working in collusion with CHW not for the benefit of the uninsured.”

CHW’s proposed settlement designs a discount program for the uninsured that would exclude anyone who had had or could have qualified for health insurance 24 months prior to when emergency hospital services were rendered. CHW’s discount program would also exclude residents who do not live in 478 specific Zip Codes in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

“In essence, 99 percent of the uninsured would be excluded,” Forbes stated.

Forbes also took CHW and their “trial lawyer stooges” to task for failing to tell the media that their proposed settlement hearing was postponed last week to July 12 after lawyers of another class-action lawsuit on hospital billing against CHW successfully argued for the delay.

In a foolish legal move, CHW lawyers attempted to have a gag order placed against Consejo de Latinos Unidos requesting that the court case of hospital price gouging not be “tried in the press” at the court hearing last Thursday. The judge unequivocally rejected CHW’s motion citing constitutional and first amendment concerns.  

The Consejo believes CHW should charge all uninsured patients, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income, a fair and reasonable price, like an HMO. Currently, hospitals charge the uninsured four or five times more than what they would accept as payment in full from an insurance company.

Forbes added, “We would be willing to support a settlement if some of these ridiculous barriers were removed, a fair pricing structure was included, and third-party verification and enforcement of the pricing plan were included. If not, we will vigorously oppose this deal until it utterly collapses.”

In 2003, Consejo was credited by The Wall Street Journal with “a big win” after forcing the nation’s second largest for-profit hospital chain, Tenet Healthcare, to end price-gouging against uninsured patients. Tenet now offers the uninsured the same discounted prices as insured patients.