Last month, we followed up on a long-running discussion in the WSB Forums – about a $100 fee charged by Highline Medical Center‘s Urgent Care Clinic in West Seattle, not covered by all insurance companies, with prospective patients required to agree that they’ll pay it if their insurance doesn’t.
As we reported in that story, Highline’s administrator told WSB the fee is “for the higher costs of operating an urgent care facility during weekends and evening hours, when there is irregular demand for services. …” Adam and Gabrielle Kramer, who first surfaced the complaint, contend that the charge, which they say she had to agree to pay before she could be seen at the clinic for a neck problem last December, violates our state’s law against “balance billing,” and that is the root of the class-action lawsuit they have filed in King County Superior Court (see it here). After Adam Kramer sent us word of the suit this afternoon, we requested comment from Highline, but did not hear back; if and when we do, we will add their response here.
| 26 COMMENTS