Healthcare consumers get little help

Who protects consumers of healthcare?

Two recent emails from readers got me thinking about that question. I don’t mean consumers in their role as patients whose medical well-being is looked after by state medical boards and health departments that police doctors and hospitals. Those organizations don’t always do a perfect job protecting patients from harm, but at least they are in place.

But who protects patients when things go wrong on healthcare’s financial side? What happens when you receive a bill you didn’t expect and can’t afford to pay? What happens when insurers send unint...