Most hospitals could function well, make money and take care of the indigent by changing one policy. The amount of liability insurance they pay.
What should be regulated is litigation. The government can force executives to take a certain income, they could also force ambulance chasers to take 5% instead of one third.
Or by changing another policy—on illegal immigration. The actual American indigents are manageable in numbers.
No doubt limiting malpractice judgments would help.
But I don’t think you fully grasp what some these indigent patients are costing
I read last year of a indigent illegal alien that was costing a California hospital over a million a year and they couldn’t get read of the guy. He was bed ridden and on dialysis and could not be discharged. They wanted to deport him back to Mexico but they would not accept him.
That was one of several similar stories in the article. And the article only covered California and illegals. Imagine expanding that to the other 49 states and all indigent care cost.