Problem: In responding to at least two of your classmates' posts, I agree or disagree with their conclusion on ethics or "cream skimming." What role do Medicare and Medicaid play in this determination? Are hospitals paid enough by these government payers? Peers post Hi class, The definition of "cost-shifting" is "when a hospital or other health-care provider charges an insured patient more than it does an uninsured patient for the same procedure or service" (Norman 2017). Cost-shifting impacts the flow of hospital monies because it prioritizes private/insured patients as needed to make up for the income missed from public insurance (Medicare/Medicaid). "Cream skimming" is a practice where only fully insured patients are taken into a facility because they reduce the operating base of not-for-profit hospitals (Henderson, 2017). I do not believe it is an ethical business practice because it deprives an entire population of people from receiving quality healthcare which should be every person's right. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements apply to these practices because they play a huge role in both cost-shirting and cream-skimming. The impact of these reimbursement systems on hospital budgets is having to plan accordingly on which patients they will select to treat which in the end, does