Quote:
Originally Posted by kg_veteran
It depends. If we are talking about a community clinic (like we have here locally), then federal funds pay for care. If we are talking about an emergency room, then the hospital writes off the bill when it can't be collected from the patient or from government subsidized programs.
Now, will you answer my questions?
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so at the community clinic the answer is federal taxes. with the emergency room, if it is a privately owned facility, it is the rest of the billed patients as uncollected receivables would be estimated and added to the price of services. if it is a public facility it is the property taxes levied to support the facility, or iow property owners in the tax jurisdiction.
in all these situations someone else pays for the care given to the uninsured. if the patient were to be insured those costs wouldn't be apportioned to, in the case of the federal taxes, the taxpayers, in the private facility, to the rest of the patients receiving services there, and in the case of the public facility, the property owners.
requiring insurance stops the subsidy you mention.
it isn't inherently cheaper, it is just more equitable, although there should be efficiencies that reduce overall costs caused by these unpaid receivables.