Honke v Alton Memorial Hospital
Class Action Suit Claims Hospital Charged Uninsured More
Uninsured hospital patient Robert Honke filed a lawsuit against Alton Memorial Hospital in Madison County Circuit Court, Illinois. Honke claims AMH charged him more for services than for patients with health insurance. The complaint, filed August 2, 2005, seeks class action status.
According to the complaint, AMH was to only charge Honke reasonable and customary rates for healthcare services and he would only be obligated to pay reasonable charges for the services he received.
"When Honke and other uninsured patients received treatment from AMH, the hospital deceptively failed to advise or intentionally concealed from its patients that they would be charged for healthcare at rates which were unreasonable," the complaint states.
"There was no justifiable basis to charge Honke significantly more than what was and is reasonable." AMH deceptively set the costs of its health care for the uninsured arbitrarily in a way that was unconscionable, unfair, and discriminatory to the uninsured, in that the costs charged to insured patients and bore no relation to the true and actual costs and value of the healthcare services," the complaint continues.
Honke claims AMH's conduct resulted in financial harm to him and others as it collected or attempted to collect amounts greater than reasonable and necessary. According to the complaint, Honke will fairly and adequately assert and protect the interests of the class and his interests coincide with other members of the class.
He claims that members of the class are so numerous that joining them is not practicable and believes there are hundreds or thousands of members whose identities can be easily ascertained from hospital records.
Honke, who is represented by Illinois attorneys, claims he sustained an injury and went to the hospital for a surgical procedure. The suit does not indicate when the procedure took place.
Honke states that he does not criticize the patient care rendered by AMH, and is not asserting a claim for any harm or damages arising from patient care.
