GREAT BEND — A class action usury lawsuit filed Thursday accuses U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and his former Great Bend medical practice of routinely charging patients illegal interest rates on unpaid medical debt.
The lawsuit was filed in Barton County District Court in the final days of a bitter race between the incumbent Republican and Democrat Adam Hamilton, a Methodist minister from Johnson County. The race could determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
The New York Times in September reported Marshall sued 700 of his patients for unpaid medical bills when he was an OB-GYN. In 81 cases, patients were arrested for missing court dates.
One of those arrested patients, Meischa Zimmerman, appeared in a TV ad for Hamilton and now is the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges Marshall and his practice, Heartland Regional OBGYN, routinely subjected patients — many of them low-income, uninsured, or underinsured mothers — to a "callous and predatory" debt-collection scheme with illegal interest rates. He frequently assesses 18% annual interest, which exceeds Kansas' statutory limit of 15%.
Zimmerman, an obstetrics patient of Marshall's in 2009, said the practice sued her over a $3,596 bill for the delivery of her child, plus an 18% annual interest rate. According to the court filing, debt collection efforts linked to the usurious debt led to her arrest on three separate occasions.
Ellinwood attorney Kent Roth said the lawsuit stems from predatory billing against economically vulnerable patients.
"Obviously, I think a jury will place a dollar value on our complaint over charging 18% usury rate on medical debt, but I will let the legal document speak for itself," Roth said.
He is serving as local counsel on the lawsuit, alongside lead counsel Edward F. Haber and Ian J. McLoughlin of the Boston firm Shapiro Haber & Urmy.
Marshall was contacted for a statement and declined to comment, referring questions to his communications team. The staff members didn't immediately respond to emails sent Thursday night.
Earlier this week, 750 medical professionals in Kansas signed a letter expressing their concern with Marshall's debt collection practices.
Thursday's court filing asserts four causes of action: Common law usury, violating K.S.A 16-207, which caps allowable interest at 15% per annum; unjust enrichment by unlawfully retaining collected interest above statutory limits; breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing: Enforcing contractual provisions to collect excessive interest rates without disclosure; and breach of fiduciary duty by failing to act in the best interest of patients and failing to disclose the assessed interest exceeded state caps.
The lawsuit says many of Marshall's patients didn't have health insurance or had insurance with high deductibles and co-pays that did not pay all the amounts Marshall charged them. Many were reported as having "to decide between paying medical bills or buying groceries."
The lawsuit cites reporting from the New York Times story, as well as Kansas City Star reporting that no other regional medical practices charged comparable interest rates.
Addressing potential statute of limitations issues, the complaint states the filing deadline was paused due to "fraudulent concealment" by the defendants, as patients only discovered the illegal nature of the rates through news reports in September and October 2026.
Plaintiffs are seeking class action certification, restitution, damages, and pre- and post-judgment interest to be determined at a jury trial.
Born in El Dorado, Marshall earned his medical degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 1987 and served seven years as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves. He practiced as an OB-GYN in Great Bend for more than 25 years.
In Congress, Marshall has focused on agricultural and healthcare policy, serving on key Senate committees, including Agriculture, Finance, Budget, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
This story was originally published by the Kansas Reflector.
