A new poll released today shows that North Carolina voters are united in their opposition to outpatient hospital facility fees — extra charges that patients face at clinics and doctors’ offices owned by hospital systems.
The results are overwhelming: 82 percent of likely voters oppose allowing hospital systems to charge facility fees outside of a hospital setting. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) said they are strongly opposed.
Originally, facility fees were intended to help hospitals cover the high costs of running emergency rooms and inpatient wards 24/7. But today, large hospital systems are applying these fees far beyond the hospital campus — even for routine checkups, primary care visits, or children’s appointments at practices they have acquired.
The result: patients are often hit with unexpected bills for hundreds, even thousands of dollars, on top of what they already pay for actual care.
As hospital systems continue buying up once-independent physician practices, these charges are becoming more common, leaving patients with fewer options to avoid them.
Importantly, the poll tested hospital talking points claiming that facility fees are necessary to preserve “access to care.” Voters weren’t convinced. Even when presented with that argument, strong majorities rejected the fees.
The message from voters is clear: North Carolinians do not want to be forced to pay hospital facility fees when they are not using the hospital.
View the full results of the poll here.
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