OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The following release is being issued by SEIU United Healthcare Workers West:
An extraordinary class action suit filed against uninsured patients by Sutter Health Inc., a not-for-profit hospital corporation, is business as usual for a chain that has consistently overcharged patients and used aggressive collection methods to shake down the poor, the union representing 4,500 Sutter caregivers charged today.
On Aug. 17, Sutter counter-sued uninsured patients who had filed a class action suit claiming that Sutter charged exorbitant prices. Sutter is seeking to collect the difference between what the uninsured patients paid and its inflated charges, or an amount that a judge would set as reasonable.
“With this suit, Sutter Health is being disingenuous at best, downright malicious at worst,” said Sal Rosselli, president of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West. “It’s an outrageous response to a class action consumer protection lawsuit, and demonstrates that Sutter’s announcement last year that it is expanding charity care eligibility and moderating collections policies were cynical PR ploys.”
Although Sutter’s aggressive attack on the uninsured may be unprecedented, it is not atypical of the company’s greedy corporate behavior, which has drawn investigations from both national and state government agencies. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, has launched an investigation into Sutter and other “not-for-profit” healthcare corporations nationally that he accuses of abusing their tax-exempt status. In July, the City of San Francisco’s tax assessor challenged Sutter to show why it does not owe $4 million in back taxes, based on its huge profit margins.
“Sutter Health is a major part of the problem of our national healthcare dilemma,” Rosselli said. “While using its ‘nonprofit’ status to get tax breaks, it is earning profits of 10 percent, 14 percent, even 33 percent of revenue. This corporation is systematically driving up the cost of health care for everyone.”
“The caregivers at Sutter hospitals are deeply disappointed in Sutter for its public show of greed and cynicism,” he continued. “Sutter has shown a similar disregard for our members, who are working without contracts and under a constant campaign of intimidation and harassment.”
CONTACT: Thea Lavin 510-251-1250
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West
CONTACT: Thea Lavin of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West,+1-510-251-1250
Web site: http://www.seiu-uhw.org/
