As one of the largest employers and health care providers in our community, Gundersen Health System has a special responsibility to our most vulnerable citizens. Unfortunately, in just the past few years, Gundersen has taken thousands of our community members to court for unpaid medical debt – including its own employees who cannot afford the steep cost of the Hospital's insurance plan.
Community members and Gundersen employees should be able to receive affordable services at a nonprofit Hospital without being sued, taken to collections, or having their wages garnished. Gundersen has been named one of the most profitable hospitals in the country. Where are those profits going, if not to the workers in the form of better health insurance and not to the community in the form of affordable health care services? Our community needs assurances that this type of behavior will cease.
We are petitioning to demand that Gundersen:
- Cease suing our community members and employees for medical debt;
- Forgive existing medical debt; and
- Provide employees with affordable health insurance coverage