The Recorder, "Plaintiffs bar checking in to hospitals"

          In the past two weeks, plaintiffs firms have filed 19 class actions against not-for-profit hospitals, claiming they are charging uninsured patients as much as 300 percent more than they charge their insured patients. Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and the Scruggs Law Firm filed the most recent suit Wednesday against Sutter Health. The complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, alleges that Sutter is breaching its obligation to provide charitable health care to uninsured patients in return for substantial tax exemptions.
          "While Sutter gives private insurance companies and governmental third-party payors like Medicare and Medicaid significant discounts from the gross or 'sticker' price ... it charges its uninsured patients 100 percent of the full sticker price," the suit states.
          Lieff Cabraser partner Kelly Dermody said the pricing discrepancy came to the forefront when uninsured patients being pursued for unpaid legal bills sought legal counsel. "Lawyers looking at the bills were shocked to discover" how much uninsured patients were paying for medical services, Dermody said.