This story by my colleague Paul Kiel is going to make you angry. An Alabama public hospital asks its patients to waive their right against having their wages garnished in order to get care there. Before checking in at SAMC, patients are handed a “Condition of Treatment” form. It is two pages of the sort of waivers and releases that have become common in American healthcare. There is no mention of financial assistance on the form. In the midst of item number seven, “Financial Agreement and Assignment of Insurance Benefits,” are two crucial details. Near the end of one sentence, the patient agrees to pay “reasonable attorneys fees.” And then, there’s this: “Further, the undersigned waives as to this debt all rights of exemption under the constitution and laws of Alabama or any other states as to personal property.” It is the sort of language only a lawyer might understand. But when low-income patients sign their initials at the end of the item 7, they waive their right under the state constitution to protect $1,000 per paycheck from seizure if they are sued over a debt. Typically, the protection ensures that workers who earn around $30,000 or less annually are immune from garnishment.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 20:37:30 +0000