I am afraid hospitals have no choice. I know first hand, that hospitals are forced to write off huge amounts of money owed to them from people that cannot pay - and this includes illegals. The truth is, they cannot turn anyone away by law because of an inability to pay. If you show up in an emergency room you must be treated - PERIOD!  Hospitals must continue to operate, so like any other business, they must have a revenue stream. Trying to streamline the process to exhaust every possible way to collect money only makes sense. That does not mean people are going to be turned away. They cannot do that. This is fear mongering and an excuse used to justify single payer health care.  Until we can ditch the AMA and the swampies running our medical delivery systems, this is the reality we are going to be dealing with. Nothing in life is free, nor is it equally distributed. The illusion socialism promises in leveling the playing field of equalized outcomes in reality creates a society of limited rationed resources. Everyone gets the opportunity to share in the same crappy resource paid for by public extortion. Our system may not be perfect, but it is still better than what is offered to the rest of the world.