Abstract
Federal fraud and abuse laws and Medicare rules designed to prevent overbilling by health care providers are leaving some patients in long-term debt with unmanageable medical bills. This report finds that a lack of clarity in these laws and regulations may be having the unintended effect of discouraging health care providers from offering reduced-cost or free care to uninsured or underinsured patients. To address the problem, the report says, the government could clarify rules to address providers' concerns and hospitals could establish standard criteria and simplify applications for free or reduced-cost care.