Patients caught in price war between Meadowlands Hospital and UnitedHealthCare

Ashok Vaidya thought his bill for two cortisone injections in April 2011 at Meadowlands Hospital and Medical Center was settled long ago — until he received a collection notice recently for $86,846. The computer programmer from Middlesex County is one of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of patients being dunned for charges the Secaucus hospital says should have been paid by UnitedHealthcare. The for-profit owners of Meadowlands, who took over in December 2010, say they were not bound by the rates agreed upon between the previous owner and the insurer.