Advocate settles with uninsured patients

January 30, 2009

The Chicago area’s largest provider of medical care said today it has reached an agreement on providing free and discounted medical care to uninsured patients as part of a class action lawsuit it has been battling.

Advocate Health Care, which operates eight hospitals in the Chicago area, is like scores of nonprofit hospitals across the country that have been under fire over how much charity care they provide. Under the settlement, which an Advocate spokeswoman said still has to be approved by a Cook County Circuit Court judge, the hospital operator would provide charity care assistance to individuals earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level or $82,500 for a family of four.

Advocate has agreed to apply its existing financial assistance policy “retroactively to eligible uninsured individuals who received medically necessary services at an Advocate hospital” from Nov. 1, 2000 to present.

Read Article: Chicago Tribune

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney