This is a good article, but it only shows a few parts of a much more complex whole, and extrapolating from these anecdotes to a broader system is not really accurate Many hospitals lose money on every Medicare and Medicaid patient. The only reason they survive is because they can charge private insurance companies more. So hospitals and health systems have been consolidating to strengthen their negotiating position a…
Private, for profit insurance is almost certainly always evil. Their margins are dictated by how much they can delay or avoid coverage. That pretty much defines evil.
Medicare is why hospitals exist, period. Private insurers make it as difficult as possible to stay in a hospital, because they are more expensive and usually result in worse outcomes.
Reimbursement rates are being squeezed because there is a glut of hospital beds. As a result, hospitals, designed to operate with higher overheads, are losing money.
There’s a whole web of bullshit where the lack of universal coverage and rational allocation of resources results in strange behaviors.