> No. That’s the justification given so that people get angry at the wrong thing. Hospitals charge this because they CAN. They are doing what businesses do and

> No. That’s the justification given so that people get angry at the wrong thing. Hospitals charge this because they CAN. They are doing what businesses do and that is maximizing their profit. Hospitals make very low profit margins; hospitals have been hemorrhaging money and either being bought out by hospital systems or insurers, or even shutting their doors entirely. In any case, it's not uninsured patients that cost the hospital money; there aren't enough of them to make a difference at most hospitals. The patients that cost hospitals money are Medicare patients, because Medicare reimburses rates that are below COGS, and private insurers are required by law to reimburse more. In other words, yes, it's the politicians that enable a broken system, but no, it's not the uninsured patients who are at fault, and it's not "profit-maximizing businesses" that are at fault either. Hospitals don't want this convoluted billing system any more than patients do, but it's literally forced on them as a result of accepting Medicare patients.