Uninsured Hospital Stays More Expensive, Numerous in South

By Jim Burress

Atlanta, GA – A new federal study shows those without health insurance pay significantly more for hospital stays than the insured, and that price gap has widened in the past decade.

While all hospital costs have gone up, the charge for a hospital stay for uninsured patients almost doubled from 1998 to 2007, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In the late 1990s, the average uninsured patient was billed $11,400. By 2007, the bill was more than $21,000, after factoring for inflation.

Carol Stocks, an analyst who authored the study, says the uninsured often can't pay, in which case the burden falls back on the hospital, and eventually society.

“When we have a high level of uninsured individuals who need care in our country, there's cost to that,” Stocks says. “And it may or may not be apparent, but it's there nonetheless.”

The report also finds the South is disproportionately affected. Uninsured hospital stays here increased by more than 29 percent over the 10-year period.

Jim Burress, WABE News