Question

What ethical principles should underlie reasonable and socially tolerable procedures for the collection of medical debt?

Do hospitals have an ethical obligation to use debt collection powers differently than other creditors?

This is for a discussion post! Please provide at least 100 words with your response. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The healthcare expenses are at their peak now. Medical debt may occur due to the inability of the person’s medical insurance to cover 100% medical expenses. A person may develop medical debt because of the unforeseen and unexpected health accidents. Medical debts are considered as the worst type of bad debts in the US. Patients who cannot afford the medical debt feel regret or even shame for the same reason.

Reasonable and socially tolerable procedures should be used to recover the medical debt. Most of the healthcare settings are depending upon debt collection agencies to obtain medical debt. Low-income communities may not seek healthcare due to the fear of medical debt.

On the other end, the unpaid medical bills adversely affect the smooth functioning of hospitals. Hospitals should always judiciously apply financial policies. In a crisis, the hospital has to prove that their policies are on humanitarian based. Hospital has programs like pure charity, assistance policy, discount policies etc. to meet the medical debt.    

Hospitals and debt collection agencies should be controlled and continuously monitored by the governmental agencies for the fair trade. Medical insurance policies should be revoked promptly. Arrangements like interest-free payment system may help the needed.                                                                                     

To understand the medical bills help from advocates or medical bill translators can be utilized.

As a service, it is the obligation of hospitals to maintain fair trade policies for debt management.