Hospitals as Insurers of Last Resort
利用保密医院财务数据，研究发现每增加一名无保险者，医院每年承担约800美元未补偿医疗费用，且无保险人口增加会降低医院利润率，医院无法将全部成本转嫁。
American hospitals are required to provide emergency medical care to the uninsured. We use previously confidential hospital financial data to study the resulting uncompensated care, medical care for which no payment is received. Using both panel-data methods and case studies, we find that each additional uninsured person costs hospitals approximately $800 each year. Increases in the uninsured population also lower hospital profit margins, suggesting that hospitals do not pass along all uncompensated-care costs to other parties such as hospital employees or privately insured patients. A hospital's uncompensated-care costs also increase when a neighboring hospital closes.