Local hospitals and the costs of treating the Strip shooting victims

ospital bills

According to a recent news report, officials at area hospitals state they will not bill patients injured in the Mandalay Bay incident. But they are open to donations.

I have no problem with for-profit hospitals and their medical staffs making a donation. However, the University Medical Center has over the years relied heavily on taxpayers to cover shortfalls. The hospital’s books looked better the past two or three years because of government-subsidized Medicaid expansion, which means UMC (and private hospitals) is getting paid for services for which it bills.

But it makes no sense for UMC to ignore insurance coverage that any incident-related patient might have. The patient paid for medical and surgical coverage, so why put an extra burden on the taxpayer? It’s letting well-meaning emotion override common sense.

Donations can and should be made by those willing and able to do so. But why ignore patients who have legitimate insurance coverage, especially in a public funded, not-for-profit teaching hospital?