St. Joseph, Mo.-based Mosaic Life Care has approved $16.9 million in debt forgiveness for 5,070 patients.
The announcement was made Tuesday by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who released the results of his inquiry into Mosaic's bill collection practices. The senator was critical of Mosaic's billing tactics last year after seeing news reports that documented aggressive debt collection via lawsuits against Mosaic patients.
"Tax-exempt hospitals cannot be in business to profit off of poor people who may not know what form to file," Sen. Grassley said in a speech on the Senate floor in announcing the results, according to a news release. "That is not what Congress intended to happen when we created the tax exemption. Now, thousands of people have a new lease on life, thanks to Mosaic's meeting its tax-exempt responsibilities."
Sen. Grassley also said Mosaic hired additional personnel to assist low-income persons with filing for financial assistance, will no longer charge interest on accounts until final judgment and has extended its four-statement billing cycle to six.
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