the source of payment for hospital or medical services when this is neither the patient (directly) nor the health-care provider. A third-party payer may be the government, an insurance company, an employer, or a philanthropic organization.
A system in which prices for health services and payment methods are the same, regardless of who is paying. For instance, in an all payer system, federal or state government, a private insurer, a self-insured employer plan, an individual, or any other payer could pay the same rates. The uniform fee bars health care providers from shifting costs from one payer to another. See “cost shifting”.... all payer system
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