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Published on FierceHealthFinance (http://www.fiercehealthfinance.com)

Universal health coverage won't solve all bad debt problems

By anne
Created Nov 26 2008 - 11:44am

Sure, universal health coverage will get rid of uninsured patients, the source of most bad debt. However, analysts say that while collection account balances will likely go down, that doesn't mean that there will be fewer collection accounts.

In fact, analysts say that the number of collection accounts may go up because more people would seek care and be responsible for at least part of the bill. And there's no guarantee that premiums will go down, so patients may have less money to pay to hospitals for their portion of the bill.

In all, the news from analysts is such that we shouldn't start celebrating the death of unpaid bills just yet.

To learn more about analyst's predictions:
- read this InsideARM piece [1]

Related Articles:
MO hospital sued over allegedly illegal collections practices [2]
FL hospital sued over sale of $1.9B in bad debt [3]
For hospitals, something's gotta give [4]
NC system gets flack for collecting charges upfront [5]


Source URL:
http://www.fiercehealthfinance.com/story/universal-health-coverage-wont-solve-all-bad-debt-problems/2008-11-26