Tennessee hospital won't charge tornado victims medical fees
A Tennessee hospital won’t charge any medical fees for the dozens of patients who were affected by last week’s deadly tornadoes.
A spokeswoman for Cookeville Regional Medical Center told ABC News 82 people were treated for injuries after Tuesday’s storms that ripped through Nashville and other central Tennessee counties. The hospital will bill each patient's insurance company and accept the insurance's payment as payment in full, according to Melahn Finley, a spokeswoman for Cookeville Regional Medical Center.
"We will not bill patients for the remaining portion after insurance," she said in a statement. "If they don’t have insurance, they will not be charged."
At least 24 people have been killed by the tornadoes that struck Nashville and the surrounding areas in the early morning hours on Tuesday. Eighteen of those reported fatalities took place in Putnam County, where the National Weather Service said an EF4 tornado, with top winds of 175 mph, struck.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper said Thursday officials were still surveying the damage and there were at least 385 residential properties and 184 commercial buildings that sustained "major damage or were completely destroyed."
As of Saturday evening, 9,700 households remain without power in Tennessee, the majority of which are located in Davidson County, according to the Tennessee governor's office.
