Looks like we are going down the road of "you don't have an obligation to pay for anything anymore" in Minnesota complements of Governor Dayton. What is next? Credit card companies have to continue to allow you to charge on credit cards that you are six months behind in payments on? We are already at the point where people not making payments on their home mortgages almost literally cannot be evicted..!

munster, perhaps you missed the crux of the case: Accretive was pressuring staff and Fairview to shake-down patients for pmt while they were waiting for care. moreover, why does this have to be a political issue? it's not. you may also not recall that THE Dem Operative, Rham Emanuel (who i detest) has issued a request that madam Swanson cease and desist on the matter. it's not a Dayton thing; it's not pay-your-darn-bills thing; it's a patient's rights thing. i hope the AG throttles Accretive...evil incarnate!

"Patients rights" hogwash. This is all about shaking down the companies that have been hired to collect on medical bills others don't want to pay. Well guess what, when they don't pay the rest of ours goes up.

Interesting that one commenter apparently hasn't read any of the coverage of people being told to hand over their credit cards who HAD insurance, those who paid 4X their copay upfront and then waited months to be compensated and those being wheeled in for scheduled surgery who were dunned in the pre-op room although their insurance had previously approved the surgery. How about the people in emergency rooms encountering bill collectors in scrubs before they were evaluated by health professionals? Some of them actually thought the ER physicians were asking for prepayment! One guy had to threaten to call an attorney from the lobby before they agreed to wheel his wife into the OR for her scheduled cancer surgery. That's not "aggressive bill collecting," that's "pre-collecting ransoms."

This is all about trying to convince America if we had "single payer" system they wouldn't have to pay anything for medical care... well guess what... countries with single payer RATION health care based on your age and condition... Do YOU want that?

Now due to all this mismanagement, Fairview is up the creek without a paddle laying off employees from their NEW children's hospital, cutting corners and keeping their fingers crossed the sky will cease to fall!

Some of what Accretive did likely was in violation of prevailing law, but I wonder if our esteemed AG in her quest for media glory realizes how many jobs have been lost as a result of her actions? Accretive had a whole other portion of its business providing admninstrative services -- a division that employed many recent grads from MN colleges. Now even this portion of Accretive's business is lost in MN, along with those jobs. But hey, now people in for medical procedures won't be asked how they're going to pay.

I hope this disgusting company is sued out of existence.

munsterlandr, Accretive was hitting on patients to pay up front. They were pressuring patients to pay while they were at the hospital and waiting for the procedure to begin. They deserve every lawsuit they get.

I think whatever judge handles this case should make the Accretive CEO pay all court costs up front.