Marin Independent Journal, "Patients without insurance settle suit with Sutter"

          Uninsured patients who were treated at Marin General Hospital or Novato Community Hospital in the past six years could be eligible for a 35 percent refund on their old medical bills under a court settlement approved Thursday.
          The deal also provides steep discounts, beginning immediately, for uninsured patients at the two facilities.
          The settlement resolves a class-action lawsuit against Sacramento-based Sutter Health and its affiliated hospitals in California, which include Marin General Hospital and Novato Community Hospital.
          The suit was filed in Sacramento Superior Court by six plaintiffs on behalf of themselves and uninsured patients throughout the state. The suit alleged that Sutter charged uninsured patients excessive fees for medical treatment at its hospitals and engaged in aggressive and unfair collection practices.
          The settlement, approved by Judge David Abbott in Sacramento, covers uninsured patients who were treated at Sutter hospitals from Sept. 3, 2000 until Thursday.
          Kelly Dermody, the plaintiffs' attorney, called the deal "groundbreaking and substantial."
          "Sutter has effectively ended price discrimination against uninsureds and has agreed to maintain policies that will protect uninsureds from unfair collections practices going forward," said Dermody, a lawyer with the Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein firm in San Francisco. "We hope that other hospital systems follow this positive trend in fair hospital pricing for the uninsured."