[Peace] Locals on Democracy Now! today at 4pm

[Kranich, Kimberlie]

Tune-in to Democracy Now! today at 4pm on WEFT, 90.1 FM when Amy Goodman,
Claudia Lennhoff and Jim Beam take Carle Hospital to task for its medical
debt collection practices.  The story is the second feature segment in the
program.
See description from DN!'s website:
Wednesday, January 7th, 2004
Are Debtor Prisons Returning To America?
Hospitals hound uninsured patients for bill payments and now rank among
America's most aggressive debt-collectors using one of the harshest and
least-known collections tactics of all: seeking the arrest of no-show
debtors. We speak with Jim Bean who was jailed in Illinois in part because
he failed to pay a hospital bill and we hear from the CFO of the hospital
that sought his arrest as well as a member of a grass roots citizen action
organization in Illinois. 
Hospitals hound uninsured patients for medical bill payment using collection
agencies and lawyers who use such methods as filing lawsuits, slapping liens
on homes, seizing bank accounts, and garnishing wages to extract payment. 
Some hospitals now rank among America's most aggressive debt-collectors.
Some also use one of the harshest and least-known collections tactics of
all: seeking the arrest of no-show debtors. 
Hospitals in several states have secured the arrest and even jailing of
patients who miss court hearings on their debts. This legal tactic is
chillingly known in some areas as "Body Attachment." 
Jim Bean, Urbana Illinois based musician who was jailed for several hours in
November 2001 in part because he failed to pay a hospital bill. Claudia
Lennhoff, executive director of Champaign County Health Care in Illinois
Consumers Robert Tonkinson, chief financial officer for Carle Foundation
Hospital, the primary teaching hospital of the University of Illinois.