Why does an ER visit cost so much? Say, to stitch up a cut? Literally thousands. Is it to cover those who don't pay?

Costs need to come down and everyone needs to pay something. It needs to be affordable. And their needs to be payment plans that work for everyone.

If my stitches cost 2,000, that's just gauging me. No pun intended. Let's say I can't pay that. Let's say I can't afford insurance either. Well, eventually I'm in collections and credit is destroyed. But if it costs like 300 bucks and I'm uninsured, give me 6 months to pay it off. Sounds fair.

There needs to be middle ground.

Those not on medicaid can't be getting billed thousands and those on can't be getting billed zero.