Hospitals must stabilize anyone who walks through the ER door by law, no matter their ability to pay. They do not receive any funding for that mandate, however,

Hospitals must stabilize anyone who walks through the ER door by law, no matter their ability to pay. They do not receive any funding for that mandate, however, so they have to make up the cost across their patients that do have the ability to pay. The stitches don’t cost $18k, but the ten people who walked in prior with no insurance and a broken leg or heart palpitations do. Edit: to be clear I’m not defending this awful system.