HHS released a report today with the not so shocking news that uninsured patients who are hospitalized end up leaving a large portion of their bills unpaid. According to the study, “uninsured families can only afford to pay in full for about 12% of the admissions to hospital (hospitalizations) they might experience.” The report has received a fair bit of play in the media, including this item from USA Today.
Presumably, HHS thinks this helps make the case for the unpopular Obama health law. As USA Today put it, “Health and Human Services released the report as the White House defends the federal health care law passed last year.” But everyone, right and left alike, recognizes that what is known as “uncompensated care” for the uninsured is a huge burden. The question is what to do about it, and the new and expensive law calling for mandates coupled with subsidies for people earning up to 400 percent of the poverty line is not the correct approach.
This comes on the same day that a panel of three 4th Circuit judges in Virginia — all three Democratic appointees — have heard arguments on the constitutionality of the individual mandate. According to Bloomberg, the Obama administration defended the mandate by arguing that, “Congress has broad power to regulate the health-care market.” No word yet on what they will rule, but the odds of this particular panel overturning the mandate seem pretty remote. This makes the case in the 11th Circuit, which will review Judge Roger Vinson’s decision overturning the entire health-care law, even more important.
the fact is the "insured" already pay for the costs of the uninsured with higher current premiums ... All ObamaCare does is move around the money in a different way with more of it flowing thru government fingers on the way ...
If they can't pay for their healthcare the day before ObamaCare was made law then they still won't be able to "pay" for it after it was signed and will never make them able to pay for it ... ever ... mainly because with third party payments nobody has any incentive to hold costs down ...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe best estimates of truly uncompensated care agree that it amounts to at best 2% of national health care spending. The uninsured pay an estimated 50% of their own bills. This whole issue is a red herring especially in view of the fact that the largest generators of uncompensated care are Medicare and Medicaid. (The Families USA estimates are not the best estimates.)
This report is full of rhethorical tricks. What does "pay in full" mean? The list price or the discounted price that Medicaid and Medicare pay? Did they account for the fact that Medicaid eligibility is retroactive so that someone who is technically uninsured when admitted ends up having Medicaid pay the bills on the back end? Did it take into account the fact that the uninsured tend to be healthier?
Did the hospital even try to collect? How does the uncompensated care default rate compare to credit card default rates?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRegarding deadbeats not paying bills, I always rejoice when I see someone playing the lottery...its the only way to get poor people to pay taxes.
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