Why some eastern Idahoans are being served, arrested and sometimes jailed over medical debt

EDITOR’S NOTE: After EastIdahoNews.com ran a four-part series on medical debt in eastern Idaho last month, we received a tremendous amount of response and additional tips to investigate. The following story is what we have learned about the practice of debtors being served, arrested and sometimes jailed. To read our original series on medical debt and local collection company Medical Recovery Services click here.

IDAHO FALLS — Even though it’s been over ten years, Mari Krueger is still furious about what happened a few days after her husband, Steven, had back surgery.

“We had a knock on the door from sheriff deputies,” Krueger said. “They were there to take Steven to the courthouse. They said he’d been ordered by MRS to come in and show up at the courthouse. And that was basically all they said.”

MRS is Medical Recovery Services, an Idaho Falls debt collection company. The company files thousands of lawsuits each year seeking to collect on medical debt in Idaho. In hundreds of these cases, they attach attorney fees, which double or triple the amount of the original debt. Additionally, while the numbers are much smaller, police records show MRS is responsible for a majority of civil arrests in eastern Idaho.

Mari admits when the arrest occurred in 2006, they were behind on a lot of medical bills. Both Kari and her husband had dealt with serious illnesses in the past and bills had become a significant financial problem. But Mari says she was always on the phone with collection agencies trying to let them know what was going on.

Go to EastIdahoNews.com for more details.