In rural Medicine Lodge, Kansas, Sarrah and Kyle Miller were sued last month by their local medical clinic for $230 in unpaid medical expenses. Their story is part of a new pattern. Kansas hospitals have filed thousands of lawsuits against their rural patients in recent years, including many for less than $500.

Rural residents in Kansas not only struggle to find health care, but afterwards struggle to afford it, especially if they don’t have insurance. That has led to hospitals suing more patients over unpaid bills, often for small amounts of money. Calen Moore of the Kansas News Service reports.

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