U.S. hospitals provided $46.4 billion in uncompensated care in 2013, up from $45.9 billion in 2012, according to data from the American Hospital Association's Annual Survey of Hospitals.
The uncompensated care totals include "services for which hospitals anticipated but did not receive payment" and "services for which hospitals neither received nor expected payment because they determined, with help from the patient, the patient's inability to pay."
Hospitals have consistently provided more uncompensated care every year since 1980, except for between 2000 and 2001 when uncompensated care fell from $21.6 billion to $21.5 billion.
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