Source: NC Newsline
Across the state, the executive directors of nearly two dozen community-based organizations are calling on health care providers to remove liens for homeowners with medical debt.
A medical debt lien is a legal claim placed on the property of someone with outstanding medical debt by a hospital or other health care provider. This means that if the property owner holding the medical debt decides to sell their house part of the proceeds would be taken to pay for their medical debt.
These organizations, which include the NC NAACP, Action NC, and the NC Justice Center sent letters calling for liens to be lifted to the following: Tim Hingtgen, the CEO of Community Health Systems; Alec Grabowski the CEO of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center and Davis Regional Medical Center; Chris Peek, the President and CEO of CaroMont Health; Shawn Howerton, CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Sampson Regional Medical Center; and Greg Lowe the President, NC Division, of HCA Healthcare.
The organizations who sent the request aim to follow the lead of Advocate Health, the third-largest non-profit health system in the county. Earlier this month Advocate Health announced it would be lifting all judgment liens on property and real estate, and forgiving the outstanding debt associated with the liens. The organization announced it plans to erase 11,000 liens across six states.
In North Carolina, the community-based organizations behind the request call Advocate Health’s actions explementary leadership and urge health care providers to do the same for thousands of homeowners in the state.
“With Advocate Health leading the way in canceling liens and forgiving medical debt from those liens, patients around the state are looking to you as a hospital leader to follow suit and make their families and homes whole again.” the letter reads. They note that the organizations sending the letter and the organizations receiving the letter share common goals: ensuring better health outcomes, centering whole-person health, and creating stronger communities.
This decision would be life-changing to North Carolinians who have lost equity in their home due to a medical accident, with many people who have medical liens on their house being elders, people of color, and people with lower incomes.
“The home is a vital cornerstone of the American dream, upward economic mobility, and intergenerational wealth for families… To lose equity in a home from medical debt after decades of dutifully paying a mortgage and preparing for retirement is an indignity that no one should have to experience”. The organizations write. “We are urging you to live up to your mission of taking care of patients, restoring their health, and maintaining dignity for all who seek your care.”
