Good News for the Uninsured
Uninsured patients who seek trauma care at a Healthcare Corporation of America hospital will no longer be charged a special trauma fee, which sometimes added as much as $30,000 to their bills…
“Even so, waiving the trauma fees for uninsured HCA patients might have little impact. Hospitals generally collect only a portion of what they bill patients. And the amount collected from uninsured patients — compared to those covered by auto or health insurance policies — can be tiny.”
HCA told the newspaper that their hospitals collect $300 on average from uninsured patients. (More)
A yearlong investigation by The Tampa Bay Times found that Nashville-based HCA, which runs numerous hospitals in North Texas including Medical City Dallas and Denton Regional Medical Center, were charging uninsured patients more than any other hospital in Florida “even when they needed little more than first aid.”
Wow.
There really needs to be more investigations like this one and I bet they would reveal more WOWs.
“HCA told the newspaper that their hospitals collect $300 on average from uninsured patients.”
$300 out of how much?
That is $300 total on average from the uninsured.
Looks like in some cases $300 out of $30,000. That’s a good deal for the uninsured, bad deal for hospitals.
So if you are uninsured, you are undetected? Wow, just goes to show you how you can just get off the radar and skip out on such high bills.
STAY AWAY from hospitals! They are a trap. You go in one day for a simple procedure or checkup and then are there forever and for more procedures. By the time you are finally out, you have a huge bill!
Yeah but its not like you HAVE to pay it. The uninsured don’t.
Of course, someone has to make up the cost of all those unpaid bills.
Why be insured anyway?
That’s what I’m thinking… It’s all a scam.
Hospitals are required to give away 5% of their revenues in charity care, so the question is whether the hospitals are stuck with bills higher than 5% of their revenues.
Only in America would hospitals regularly charge $30,000 to the uninsured in order to collect an average of $300 apiece.
This could be solved quickly by having a realistic national fee schedule for the uninsured.
One would have to add a provision that Medicare Part A would pay the hospital its fee schedule if the parient was destitute.
“HCA told the newspaper that their hospitals collect $300 on average from uninsured patients.”
If we can get out that cheap, sounds like we should all just go uninsured.
Yeah, who needs belongings and property anyways?