And you are to be commended for that. You are not alone. We see in our hospital, every day, responsible people paying their bills.
We also see people skipping out on their bills.
You can't tell who's going to be which type of person by their nationality, or their sex, or the way they dress, or any other of a number of physical discriminants. By and large, however, the person who is here illegally is going to skip out on their bill. Again, there is no way to tell who that is just by looking at them...but you can almost guarantee an illegal is going to stick it to the hospital.
And it isn't always the taxpayer picking up the tab in the form of state aid. My source tells me the typical dodge is to plead poverty, apply for state aid with a phony address, and then just walk away after being treated. In that case, the hospital eats the bill. Many large medical/hospital corporations are doing well enough off of paying patients that they can absorb the loss. Ours is a private not-for-profit hospital...and we're feeling the pinch.
We still have the only OB ward in a county the size of some small states (Conn, RI, or Del). If this keeps up, well...we may go back to 100 years ago when only 5 in 100 births took place in the 'hospital.'