Larry
West Sacramento,#2Author of original report
Sun, November 26, 2006
On November 15, 2006, we received a notice from The Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco. This notice told us of a class-action settlement with Catholic Healthcare West, owners of St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, we would be eligible for a 35% discount from the total bill that the St. Joseph Hospital claims we owe. The case is Adrienne Dancer and Amber T. Howell v. Catholic Healthcare West, Case No. CGC 05 445 624 (part of the Catholic Healthcare West Cases, J.C.C.P. No. 4453). The basic allegation is that Catholic Healthcare West, which operates hospitals in California, Nevada, and Arizona, routinely charged its uninsured patients far more than it charged those who were insured. We filed a request to opt out of the settlement. First, we felt that the facts in our case were substantially different than those before the court. While we were uninsured at the time and St. Joe's billed us for about three times what insured patients pay, we also had entered into a contract for a more reasonable amount and paid that amount in full before entering the hospital. If we did not opt out, we would agree that we owed St. Joseph's sixty-five percent of approximately $46,000, less the $12,000 we paid in 2002. Since we feel that we owe them nothing, we had to opt out to be able to assert our claims. Secondly, even though we now live in California, the claim arose in Maricopa County, Arizona and that should be the proper venue for our dispute with Catholic Healthcare West. Assuming that Catholic Healthcare West billed all of its uninsured patients 300-to-400 percent of what it charged insured patients, the proposed settlement rewards Catholic Healthcare West by granting them a judgment in their favor of as much as 260 percent of normal charge against those who choose to accept the settlement.