Final answer:
Uncompensated care in hospitals can affect the prices that hospitals charge other patients. Uncompensated care refers to medical services provided to patients who cannot afford to pay. Adverse selection death spiral is different from uncompensated care and is a phenomenon in insurance markets.
Step-by-step explanation:
(a) Yes, uncompensated care in hospitals can affect the prices that hospitals charge other patients, including those with health insurance from a private-sector insurance company. When hospitals provide care to uninsured patients who cannot afford to pay, they face financial losses. To make up for these losses, hospitals may increase prices charged to other patients, such as those with health insurance. This is known as cost shifting, where hospitals shift the costs of uncompensated care onto other patients.
(b) Uncompensated care refers to medical services provided by hospitals to patients who cannot afford to pay. It includes charity care and bad debt. Adverse selection death spiral, on the other hand, is a phenomenon in insurance markets where high-risk individuals are more likely to purchase insurance, while low-risk individuals are less likely to do so. Uncompensated care is a result of financial pressures faced by hospitals due to providing care to uninsured patients, whereas adverse selection death spiral is a market behavior influenced by asymmetric information between insurance buyers and companies.