this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2025
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I like how every patient gets a big room with huge windows and a team of doctors on call 24/7 and 12 medical tests done a day with no waiting. And no one ever talked about the bills.
Did you watch the show? That's all explained and is not typical. House has a very specialized practice dealing in absurd rare cases that no one can figure out. There was even an entire season arc about money and profits.
Wasn’t there also a multi season arc where they made House teach a class and take on interns so that they had other “reasons” to keep his department
How does employing House make the hospital money?
It doesn't directly, his department is known to be a money pit. But having him at their hospital is kinda a point of prestige for the hospital; kinda like reputation padding. In a way, you can look at the budget for his department as a marketing expense for the hospital.
They get to claim they have a world famous diagnostician on staff who can figure out what's wrong with the most hopeless causes.
It'd be kinda like having a really prestigious professor at your university.
It's a teaching hospital, so they don't (entirely) rely on the regular patient-funded system common in the USA.
House's reputation can totally help with funding.
Well, his is typically a one-case department. They talk about cutting his department or funding regularly because it is expensive. In the end, they always conclude he does more good than harm and let him keep abusing people to save a life here or there. I'm not saying anything of this is logical, ethical, or consistent with any reality I want to live in, I'm just saying they address a lot of this across the seasons.
Yeah, it's obviously not logical or grounded in reality, but it is at least somewhat consistent within the show universe.
I think during the story line, where Cuddy negotiates with the hospital network insurance provider for a new contract, she makes the argument, that their hospial sort of provides a halo effect. Basically the hospital and probably House in particular (but maybe also others like Wilson) are some of the best in their fields, which obviously is great for marketing purposes, if you can say that you have one/the best and well known hospital in your network.
Edit since I thought of another aspect:
Iit regularly comes up that the team writes case reports. So maybe there is also an aspect where they frequently publish in prestigious journals. Especially since it is a teaching hospital adjacent to a university that might also be an important metric. Similar to insurance providers, the university itself might have an interest in having a reputation for excellence.
Patients also only get sent to House when nobody else can figure it out.
it's a fake drama without any basis in reality.
100%, and I gotta say it was a great show. A little lacking in the last season or two but I loved the ending of the series overall.
i bet medical care is like that if you're rich
There's a hospital near me that openly advertises that it has penthouse suites at the top that feel like swanky apartments. I've never asked about their cost.
Mood I was in the ER this weekend for a broken collarbone and saw one doctor and two nurses and Tylenol for the pain. I had to make my own follow up appt with an orthopedic doctor in network and I couldn't request my medical records to be forwarded to new office. Fuck healthcare cause 5 days after the break I finally got an opinion from a qualified doctor: NO SURGERY. Fml
"Fuck American healthcare" FTFY
been awhile since i watched it, but didnt they state it was some hospital in a really rich neighborhood?
I think the in universe explanation was that it was a teaching hospital. But I’m pretty sure even those charge patients something in the US.
Yes, another in universe explanation, that I already commented somewhere else, is that the hospital is geared towards excellence. There's an episode where Cuddy negotiates with an insurance provider for a new contract and one argument is that they provide a halo effect. So the insurance can claim to have the best in their network or get really bad press for losing them.
the thing is they tamper with the queues to put themselves on top, and nobody says anything
I thought they did get mad about the queues a couple of times.
Because people want to watch something that makes them feel good... Real life doesnt have beautiful doctors with perfect bodies, hair and makeup either. And the light is not turned down and romantic. Lols.
And I kind of like the story. Imagine if you actually had a genius doctor that would always be right. The hospital wouldnt fire him, or maybe they would, if they dont care if patients get better. In real life, maybe more money in keeping them sick.