Baptist Health Accused Of Bilking Uninsured
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
A federal lawsuit accuses Baptist Health of using its nonprofit, tax-exempt status to take advantage of the
uninsured. The class-action suit seeks to represent all uninsured patients
in the state, or about 20 percent of adult Arkansans. It was filed by Mississippi lawyer Richard Scruggs, who is prominent for tobacco litigation that was the basis for the 1999 movie "The Insider." Baptist Health is one of 340 nonprofit hospitals that Scruggs has targeted in 21 states since June. The suit was filed in United States District Court in Little Rock on Wednesday and also names The American Hospital Association as a defendant.
Baptist Health countered the suit, saying last year it spent nineteen million dollars in charity care and had 64 million dollars in uncollected debt.
