The level of hospital charges and the income of the uninsured patient.

It is a commonly held belief that full billed charges for hospital services, when submitted to uninsured patients, constitute such an extraordinary payment burden that hospitals' attempts to collect full payment are irrational. We examine that proposition with data on the joint distribution of hospital charges and uninsured incomes, guided by prevailing standards on the concept of ability-to-pay. We find that there is in fact a substantial intersection of charges and incomes in which full payment from the uninsured, or at least substantial partial payment, is a reasonable commercial expectation. When we quantify the estimated extent of charge collectability, we conclude that there is empirical support for current hospital collection practices.