Social media posts have tied a North Carolina hospital system’s decision to remove the debts of 11,500 patients to the killing of Brian Thompson.
Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed on December 4 with bullets marked with the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose”—believed to be a critique of the health insurance industry, which has been accused of unduly delaying and denying medical claims.
On Thursday, NBC News reported that a couple who owed $92,262 to Atrium Health through a lien on their house had their debt removed, and social media users have claimed that the hospital system cleared the debts in response to Thompson’s death.
Atrium Health says it will forgive the debts of 11,500 people — less than a week after it was reported that the company has aggressively pursued former patients’ medical debts, placing liens on their homes to collect on bills.Health Insurance corporations are cautious after a CEO was assassinated.
— Anonymous (@youranoncentral.bsky.social) December 13, 2024 at 4:34 AM
The Claim
For more than 20 years, North Carolina’s Atrium Health placed liens on the homes of patients unable to repay their debts to the hospital system, meaning that the money a patient in debt made from selling their house would go toward paying off their medical fees.
This practice is in keeping with North Carolina’s medical judgment rules, which automatically place liens on the houses of patients who owe medical debts. Medical judgments in North Carolina also accrue 8 percent interest year over year.
Donna and Gary Lindabury, the couple interviewed by NBC, are 72 and 80, respectively, and had been living with debt—including a lien on their home—since Gary’s emergency heart surgery in 2009. The debt had at one point reached $200,000, they told the outlet.
They added that they had been “consumed with just trying to get by with this problem.”
Another former patient, Terry Belk, 68, told North Carolina Health News that his debt was “like an albatross” around his neck.
He was left with a $40,000 debt and a lien on his house following his recent prostate cancer treatment and breast cancer treatment for his wife, who died in 2012.
A 2022 Urban Institute report citing credit bureau data from August 2021 said North Carolina contained 12 of the 100 U.S. counties with the most medical debt.
On December 1, 2023, the state implemented a Medicaid expansion, and residents aged 19 through 64 who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line may be eligible for Medicaid in North Carolina.
The Facts
Atrium Health did not remove liens on people’s houses because of Thompson’s killing.
The decision to remove the debts was made in September, and the couple featured in the NBC article had their debt removed in November.
In a September 19 statement, Advocate Health, Atrium Health’s parent company, said: “As part of its ongoing commitment to make health care more affordable and accessible, Advocate Health, the nation’s third-largest non-profit health system, is taking a significant step in eliminating financial barriers to care.
“The organization has announced it will begin cancelling all judgment liens previously placed on homes and real estate as part of its efforts to collect unpaid medical bills. Advocate Health will also forgive the outstanding debts associated with those liens.”
The statement also reiterated Advocate Health’s 2022 announcement that it would “no longer file lawsuits nor seek liens or judgments as part of its collection efforts.”
Newsweek has contacted Atrium Health for further comment via email.
Atrium Health was one of five hospital networks in North Carolina to begin removing existing medical judgments this year.
CaroMont Health, Mission Health, Sampson Regional and Community Health Systems also announced similar steps to remove patients’ debts, although the removals may take time as the process involves coordinating with the courts.
The five providers filed 96 percent of the state’s medical debt lawsuits between January 2017 and June 2022, a 2023 report by Duke University School of Law and North Carolina’s office of state treasurer found.
Earlier this year, Governor Roy Cooper announced a debt relief program that rewards hospitals that agree to forgive old debt and plan to increase their charity care policies.
The relief program covers debt held by current Medicaid patients dating back to 2014 and debt deemed “uncollectible” for other low- and middle-income patients.
The Ruling
False.
Atrium Health was not influenced to remove medical debts following the death of Brian Thompson. The hospital system initiated its debt removal in September.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek
The post Fact Check: Did Atrium Health Wipe Debts After Brian Thompson Killing? appeared first on Newsweek.
