America has always been a generous country, and some professions encourage practitioners to offer free services to those who need but can’t afford those services. For example, lawyers are encouraged to do pro bono work for the indigent who need legal representation. The American Bar Association and other legal organizations include this in their codes of ethics.
Physicians are also encouraged to provide free or reduced-cost services, but the proportion of doctors who give charity care is on the decline. One of the reasons cited are lower rates of reimbursement from insurers. From the Washington Post:
Overall, higher-paid specialists or doctors working in small private practices were more likely to provide charity care than internists, pediatricians or those employed by large managed-care companies, the survey found.
Nearly 80 percent of surgeons reported providing free care, largely because they spend more time in hospitals, which are required by law to treat indigent patients. Pediatricians, on the other hand, probably saw less demand for charity care because higher percentages of children receive care through government programs. Although the number of physicians providing charity care has remained stable, the proportion has fallen because there are many more doctors practicing medicine.
The information was obtained from a report issued by the Center for Studying Health System Change. You may read the report here.
