Wisconsin High Court Orders Insurance Company to Pay Up

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ordered an insurance company to pay a hospital $131,000 for treating a woman who died in 2001.

But the court says National States Insurance Co. does not have to pay an additional $63,000 in interest to Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital ordered by lower courts.

Kathleen Ledger was treated at the hospital for months before dying of kidney cancer. She exhausted coverage under Medicare but had a policy with National States for additional coverage.

The hospital charged National States $204,000, but the insurer agreed to pay only $73,000, the amount Medicaid would have paid.

The court sided with the hospital but says the policy was ambiguous so the insurer doesn’t have to pay interest.