In 1986, Congress passed a law commonly referred to as EMTALA (Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, also known as the Patient Anti-Dumping Law) to address a growing concern that EDs were refusing to treat patients based on their inability to pay. This law requires every ED to provide a minimal level of care to all comers regardless of their ability to pay.
This law and the way hospitals are compensated for this treatment are at the crux of the ‘problem’, IMO. Here is where congress needs to direct its attention.
The ancient solution was the expectation that someone who was unable to pay his debts to another would work as a slave to that person until the debt was paid off...