Tuesday, March 27, 2007      

Code of Canon Law Forces Catholic Hospital to Forgive Outrageously Marked Up Hospital Bill; 38-Month Battle Ends    

DENVER, CO--Since early 2003, advocates for the uninsured have been battling Denver-based Centura Healthcare for allegedly price gouging uninsured patients, charging the uninsured three or four times more than what the not-for-profit religious hospital system would accept as payment in full from an insurance company. Today, the uninsured have won the first-in-the-nation victory against hospital price gouging using one of the oldest legal systems in the world: the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church.

Scott Ferguson, an artist and musician from the Denver area, was treated for a circulatory disorder in December of 2003 by Centura-owned St. Anthony’s Medical Center and charged over $67,000 for treatment for which an insurance company would have paid no more than $8,200. Ferguson has been disputing the charges for over three years. Ferguson paid $6,600 on the bill and offering to settle the bill for a total of $10,000 (30 percent above what an insurance company would have paid). But Centura officials allegedly refused his settlement offers.

With the help of the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, Ferguson disputed the matter via the Code of Canon Law last month and Ferguson’s balance due was immediately forgiven. Under Canon Law, the judicial system of the Catholic Church, supposed violators of the rules of the Church are contacted first before legal proceedings begin. In hopes of correcting the situation before a tribunal is established, the Catholic Church’s Code on Canon Law encourages resolution.

Centura is half-owned by Catholic Health Initiatives and is viewed as a religious entity by the Catholic Church.

“The uninsured who have gone to a Catholic hospital, have been price gouged and harassed for payment, now have a meaningful way to resolve the dispute: the Code of Canon Law,” said K.B. Forbes, Executive Director of the Consejo. “No religious mouthpiece can counter the strict rules of the Church. Charging the uninsured three or four, or in Scott Ferguson’s case, eight times more is neither moral or in adherence with the healing mission of Jesus Christ.”

For more information, visit www.consejohelp.org .