Healthcare: Five patients, five ways to be billed

To appreciate the complexity of the U.S. healthcare system, consider the case of five hypothetical patients in the same hospital, all with the same illness, all receiving the same treatment from doctors and nurses. There is the patient who has insurance on the job, the patient with the individual policy, the patient on Medicare, the patient who is poor, and the patient who is uninsured. Their bills could be paid in so many ways.