Healthcare misinformation mystifies Des Moines couple

Not many businesses get away with requiring consumers to pay a bill before informing them what the total will be — except, of course, in the health care industry. Most of us are asked to sign documents when receiving hospital care that require us to promise to pay what insurance does not. But what if we've been misinformed and the bill winds up being far higher than expected? Take Leonard and Kathy Hudson, a south-side Des Moines couple. They contacted The Des Moines Register Reader's Watchdog absolutely mystified by bills totaling more than $3,000 after Leonard, 70, was treated at Iowa Methodist Medical Center.