> 1. Go to the ER and pay $X000 Agreed most people think that the ER is $X000. What people don't realize is that the hospital then attempts to recoup the cost

> 1. Go to the ER and pay $X000 Agreed most people think that the ER is $X000. What people don't realize is that the hospital then attempts to recoup the cost by charging paying patients and their insurance companies more. This is where those $20,000 ER visits comes from. While insurance companies push back, the other folks paying out of pocket lose. Some of them go bankrupt. Hospitals lose too and ultimately the community. Because emergency services almost always lose money for the hospital, many rural hospitals also go bankrupt or get bought out by private equity groups (https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/private-equity-firms-now-control-many-hospitals-ers-nursing-homes-n1203161 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/private-equity-fi...).