We treat the scumbags as well as the private payers.

Health economists say that hundreds of hospitals will close across the country as Government and private payers increasingly give their business to low bidders.

Nursing home costs range from $4,000 to $6,000 a month in the metropolitan area for private payers.

So too would establishing the same charges for both public and private payers.

But the rest of the cost, formerly assumed by private payers and state and local governments, would be a new Federal expense.

Pack 'em off home as quick as possible for everyone else (we've got more private payers coming in after all).

The study also mentions cost-shifting from government programs to private payers.

Sixty percent of its patients are private payers.

"Physicians' strategies threaten to raise costs for public and private payers through increased use," the study warns.

But, he said, these numbers did not prove that the Government squeeze on hospitals had actually caused the increased charges to private payers.