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Since the country’s first Hospital Fair Pricing Act took effect more than two years ago—Assembly Bill 774––California hospitals are required to offer fee discounts and are also capped on what they charge patients who typically face their highest fees: the uninsured.… many hospitals have complied with California law—“Some are doing it well, some are not”—but two nagging problems continue. First, rural hospitals, or those not affiliated with large chains, frequently don’t mention the mandated discounts. Second, obtaining the discounts can be difficult. The Web site was created “not to bash hospitals,” but to offer patients their options under the law.…

For patients, medical bills are causing rising debt loads and even medical bankruptcy. Consumers who buy catastrophic health-insurance plans and limited “junk” insurance often find that their plans have strict limitations, which often saddle them with enormous debt….

The problem I have with this clip as it looks at the situation from the patients prospective only. If the bill is lowered or not paid, who makes up the difference? Does the hospital "eat it" or do they pass it on to some other source. In our area, Blue Cross insurance refused to continue to pay one hospital, because they were over charging Blue Cross to make up for the cuts in the hospital's bill from the uninsured, Medicare, Medicaid, and discounts as in this clip. I am sure Blue Cross upped their premiums to make it their losses too. The problem seems to me that too many people do not pay their bills,or carry insurance or take advantage of others who are paying the bills.