Hospital Lawsuits Over Unpaid Bills Increased By 37 Percent In Wisconsin From 2001 To 2018

Zack Cooper; James Han; Neale Mahoney

doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01130

Hospital Lawsuits Over Unpaid Bills Increased By 37 Percent In Wisconsin From 2001 To 2018

Health Aff (Millwood). 2021 Dec;40(12):1830-1835. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01130.

Authors

Zack Cooper¹, James Han², Neale Mahoney³

Affiliations

¹ Zack Cooper is an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Yale School of Public Health and an associate professor in the Department of Economics, Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. He is also a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
² James Han is a research assistant in the Department of Economics, Yale University.
³ Neale Mahoney (nmahoney@stanford.edu) is a professor in the Department of Economics, Stanford University, in Stanford, California. He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

PMID: 34871068
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01130

Abstract

We analyzed Wisconsin court records from the period 2001-18 to document trends in hospital lawsuits to recover patients' unpaid medical bills. These lawsuits increased 37 percent during this period, from 1.12 per 1,000 residents in 2001 to 1.53 per 1,000 residents in 2018, with lawsuits being disproportionately directed at Black patients and patients living in poorer and less densely populated counties.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Hospitals*
Humans
Wisconsin