Understanding the Inpatient Cost of Caring for the Uninsured


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Richard B. Siegrist Jr, MS, MBA, CPA, HealthShare Technology, June 24, 2003.

Focus: To quantify the inpatient hospital costs of caring for the uninsured and provide a foundation for estimating the impact of changes in the size and composition of the uninsured populations.

Study Design: Analysis of 2000/2001 Medicare hospital cost report and hospital discharge data for 10 states that account for about 45 percent of inpatient hospital discharges nationally.

Results:

  • Inpatient care for the uninsured accounted for 1.6 to 1.9 million discharges and $9.7 billion to $11.6 billion in 2001. These figures represent 5.6 percent of all hospital discharges and 5.1 percent of overall hospital inpatient costs.
  • Caring for the uninsured falls disproportionately on teaching hospitals. The uninsured account for 6.8 percent of their discharges, compared to 5.3 percent for community hospitals.
  • Adults aged 30 to 64 accounted for 58 percent of hospital discharges among the uninsured and 68 percent of total costs.
  • The total cost of admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions for the uninsured was about $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion in 2001, or 12.1 percent of the overall cost of inpatient care for the uninsured.


Full Study:
Understanding the Inpatient Cost of Caring for the Uninsured
(PDF format, 214KB)