claim: "federal law requires that hospitals treat people whether or not they can pay. so someone (who) doesn’t have health insurance -- they can go to the hospital and get free care."
author: mitt romney
evidence_1: it requires hospital emergency departments that accept payments from medicare  to provide an appropriate medical screening examination (mse) to anyone  seeking treatment for a medical condition, regardless of citizenship, legal status,  or ability to pay. participating hospitals may not transfer or discharge patients  needing ...
evidence_2: jul 3, 2017 ... the question of who pays if a patient can't is important as republicans debate  health care legislation that could result in more than 20 million fewer americans  ... the year the affordable care act passed, hospitals provided about $40 billion  in "uncompensated care" — that is, care they were not paid for.
evidence_3: state and federal laws require plans to cover specified benefits, but each plan  works differently. plans can also vary in how much they'll pay – and how much  you'll have to pay – toward your health care. plans that cover a broad range of  doctor and hospital services and that meet all of the legal coverage requirements  are ...
evidence_4: jun 22, 2015 ... “people are still going to the emergency room,” garthwaite says, “and they are  still receiving treatment—so the cost is still there. ... the emergency medical  treatment and labor act, passed in 1985, requires that hospitals treat all  individuals in need of emergency care regardless of their insurance status.
evidence_5: jun 20, 2012 ... if the law is upheld, millions of newly insured patients will have many of their  hospital bills covered by insurance. but if the law, or just the insurance mandate,  is struck down, those bills will be passed on to taxpayers, hospitals and privately  insured patients, as they have been for the past quarter-century.