Report Finds More Care Is Going Unpaid at Wisconsin Hospitals

Hospital waiting area. (Public Domain) More than 2 million patient visits at Wisconsin hospitals last year involved unpaid care, according to an annual survey of Wisconsin hospitals. The Wisconsin Hospital Association’s Uncompensated Health Care Report shows hospitals reported providing more than $2 billion in unpaid care in 2025. It was nearly evenly split between charity care for patients unable to pay and bad debt, which represents bills hospitals have been unable to collect. Last year’s total was 15 percent higher than in 2024, and represents about 2 percent of total patient charges for the year. Kyle O’Brien, the association’s president and CEO, pointed out that the majority of the increase came in the form of charity care, which increased by nearly 29 percent from the previous year. The total amount of bad debt only increased by 4 percent from the 2024 level. “As people have pressures in other parts of their life for expenses, whether it be housing or food or gas or whatever else