Oct. 30 (UPI) — U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall was sued Thursday by a patient of his former medical clinic who accuses him of charging illegal interest rates on unpaid medical bills.
Marshall, R-Kan., has sued more than 700 patients over medical debt in his 25 years as an obstetrician-gynecologist, The New York Times reported.
Some 81 of those patients were arrested for missing court dates.
One of those patients, Meischa Zimmerman, is now a lead plaintiff in the case. The class action lawsuit accuses Marshall of charging patients up to 18% annual interest, exceeding the state’s limit of 15%.
Zimmerman alleges the senator’s clinic, Heartland Regional OBGYN, would often target low-income and uninsured mothers in “callous and predatory” debt collection schemes.
“Obviously, I think a jury will place a dollar value on our complaint over charging 18% usury rate on medical debt, but I will let the legal document speak for itself,” attorney Kent Roth told NPR-affiliate KCUR.
The lawyer who sued patients on Marshall’s behalf, Steven Johnson, told The Times that collection efforts were “pretty much the way it works in the state of Kansas.”
“Generally, at the time of services for all our clients if they were not paid up front, the Debtor agreed to an 18 percent interest rate,” Johnson told the newspaper.
Marshall is running for reelection against Democrat Adam Hamilton, a Methodist minister.