U.S. hospitals spent the equivalent of $42.8 billion in uncompensated care on patients in 2014, accounting for 5.3 percent of all expenses, according to the American Hospital Association. That figure is down about 8.4 percent from the 2013 total of $46.4 billion and 5.9 percent of all expenses. The AHA attributed the decrease to the phasing in of the Affordable Care Act, which has helped provide private and public insurance to millions of Americans in recent years, according to AHA News. However, the bed debt total still is higher than in 2011 and is still the third-highest total since the AHA began tabulating bad debt data in 1990. Fact sheet (.pdf)