PRIVATE hospitals do not have to admit patients who cannot pay if they deem, for example, that a broken leg is not a life threatening emergency. In rural states, like Montana, people often live hundreds of miles away from any kind of hospital.

The only hospital in our area is a privately owned hospital. If you have a broken leg and cannot pay and you are not on Medicare or Medicaid, then they can tell you to try the other privately owned hospitals 150 miles away. Those hospitals don't have to take you either, if your problem is not life threatening. One of them, in Billings, is a Catholic hospital that does tend to be more charitable. The hospital here and the second hospital in Billings are Lutheran non-profits, private hospitals, and are not as charitable.