section_path: Funding
section_name: Funding
paragraph_text: Funding
  
  Modern hospitals derive funding from a variety of sources. They may be funded by private payment and health insurance or public expenditure, charitable donations.
  
  In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service delivers health care to legal residents funded by the state "free at the point of delivery", and emergency care free to anyone regardless of nationality or status. Due to the need for hospitals to prioritise their limited resources, there is a tendency in countries with such systems for 'waiting lists' for non-crucial treatment, so those who can afford it may take out private health care to access treatment more quickly.
  
  In the United States, hospitals typically operate privately and in some cases on a for-profit basis, such as HCA Healthcare. The list of procedures and their prices are billed with a chargemaster; however, these prices may be lower for health care obtained within healthcare networks. Legislation requires hospitals to provide care to patients in life-threatening emergency situations regardless of the patient's ability to pay. Privately funded hospitals which admit uninsured patients in emergency situations incur direct financial losses, such as in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.