Debt collectors in Tennessee who are seeking to recover the entire balance of unpaid medical debts from uninsured patients may be breaking the law, and a lawyer is looking for individuals to participate in a class-action lawsuit against any alleged perpetrators.
A state law in Tennessee limits the amount that an uninsured patient can be charged for medical services. Under the law, uninsured patients are not allowed to pay more than 175% of whatever the costs of the services provided were, and Gary Blackburn, an attorney in Nashville, is looking to use that law to go after collectors who may be seeking to collect more than what they are supposed to be collecting.
Blackburn’s quest was featured in a news segment on a Nashville TV station earlier this week.
“These are people who don’t know their rights and these companies are preying on their ignorance,” he said in the segment. “If it’s happening to these two or three people it must be happening to thousands of people.”
Blackburn is looking for individuals who may have paid too much to come forward so he and his associates can determine if there are enough victims to file a class-action lawsuit. Blackburn says he believes that there are collectors who are seeking to recover the full amount of debts, instead of what is required by law.
