^^^Not-for-profit and tax-exempt hospitals are required to accept Medicare. If you are not tax-exempt, you are not required to accept Medicare or Medicaid. The bulk of hospitalized patients are on Medicare, and the typical hospital would go bankrupt if they did not take Medicare. Last time I checked, a little less than 60% of all hospitals are non-for-profit or tax exempt. The remainder are for profit or run by a government entity.