Hospitals want to provide the best possible care and outcomes for patients – which includes not burdening them with medical bills they are unable to pay back. Yet too often, after receiving treatment, patients are left with hefty debt for care that health insurance refused to cover. This financial strain can place continued care out of reach for many Texans.
Hospitals are also impacted by poor insurance reimbursement and low coverage. Hospitals will always provide medical screenings and lifesaving treatment, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay – but when hospitals don’t make up the cost of providing that care, they must absorb that loss, which impacts the financial health of the hospital and ultimately, how many services they can provide. In the direst situations, hospitals that can’t cover that cost must close – erasing access to care for whole communities.
Insurance Barriers to Care
As a critical intermediary, health insurance continues to pose a decisive barrier between patients and the health care system and place unnecessary burdens on the health care industry at large. We see this in action in four key ways:
Affordability & Cost Burden
Access to Care
Delays & Denials
System Strains
The rising cost of care is a concern for everyone. Hospitals, whose purpose is to provide life-saving care, are making decisions about necessary expenses amid rising costs. Patients, already bearing the skyrocketing price of everyday life, should not have to consider health care as negotiable. Insurance companies, faced with these costs, respond by adjusting their premiums and deductibles, reducing coverage options and ultimately protecting their profits.