Originally Posted by ubertuber

However, I do want to point out that it's naive at best to think that every uninsured guy who comes in the door with a severed finger pays his bill at all, let alone in cash. The uninsured people who are transported to the hospital by medivac and require emergency surgery to even survive the night don't all pay their $100,000 bills. The diabetic who doesn't take care of their condition (because they can't afford preventative checkups and insulin) and requires the amputation of an ulcerous and gangrenous foot to avoid death from sepsis may not pay their $60,000 bill. So who does? You do, in the form of higher hospital service charges and increased insurance rates. There's no real alternative to this.