US Hospital Billing

"please keep in mind that going to hospital can be financially ruinous"... in the US only, not in the rest of the civilised world

why are hospitals charging money?

Even hospitals disagree with this.https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2020-01-06-fact-sheet-uncomp...

Hospitals don't want people to "pay themselves" when they can bill insurance companies 10x as much.

It's definitely not the hospitals fault. It's insurance companies getting involved since paying out of pocket is abnormal. So when you do pay out of pocket, you're paying what the insurance company pays and the hospital billing department is most likely very apathetic to that. Since they operate as non-profits, they often are willing to negotiate. Which is most likely why they can get away with this as opposed to a for profit entity.

It can go the other way too. Some hospitals will charge uninsured people much more than they would charge the insurance company for the same procedure.

Doesn't stop the hospital from turning around and gouging their patients and leaving them a ridiculous hospital bill which seems to be the norm in this country[1].[1]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpearl/2017/09/05/3-ways-h...

You just don’t pay. Hospitals eat the cost.

if so, why should any patient pay the bill to the hospital?

>> I don't think the hospital expects to actually ever get paid what they bill outOH YES THEY ABSOLUTELY DO!When I was in-between jobs I had a medical emergency and I was on the ACA around the first year it was offered. I was billed above medicare rates so I was on the hook for ~40k after out of pocket max. They told me this limit is what insurance has to cover but hospitals can still bill above it. First they told me they could work on the prices and asked for my last 5 years t