A place to ask questions of Lemmygrad's best and brightest
i was in a car accident, of my own fault, and ended up going to the hospital in an ambulance where they checked me out found nothing wrong with me and released me straight to jail.
the hospital said i owed them $6000 for that and another $250 for the ambulance ride (this was a long time ago).
I never paid a dime of any of that. I got a lot of collection agency letters but i moved around a couple of times in the next two years and i think they just gave up.
I never paid a dime of any of that. I got a lot of collection agency letters but i moved around a couple of times in the next two years and i think they just gave up.
Sometimes this is the way to go, but first look into what it takes to dodge collection agencies for the next three to six years. It’s a skill set and commitment that requires discipline. If they catch you off-guard, then at best the statute of limitations clock resets, and at worst you’ll have a court order for even more than your original debt.
oh damn, i never knew about court orders! never heard of that being a thing
That’s what can happen when they take you to court and you lose. Then the state may garner your wages or even seize you property. But usually, I think, people make a deal out of court.
Your instinct is correct: the reason for injury doesn't matter, you shall pay. Welcome to the US of A where peasants be screwed by capitalists and the peasants usually ask for more of the same.
Also consider that only emergency stabilizing treatment must be provided without upfront payment. Many emergency depts don't treat breaks, they just refer you to an orthopedist to set the break, which must be paid before treatment. And then also consider that the ER doctor might not be in network for your insurance even if the hospital is in network. And that the radiologist is another Dr so same thing applies
Take a look at the "no surprises act" passed in 2022. It makes this kind of approach illegal.
I had forgotten about this, thank you for sharing. That law doesn't provide full protection though, like it doesn't apply to ambulances, you can sign away your protections after you're stabilized & the estimate is only required for uninsured if they ask for it. But it has way more protections than we used to get. Not as good as socialized healthcare, but better than nothing
This is one of the more insidious aspects, because you can’t shop around for in-network treatment in an emergency.
you can have half your brain blown out in one of our regular mass shootings and if you survive you will be millions of dollars in debt
No. I had a dental emergency where I had an infection burrowing through from the top of my jawbone to the bottom of my jawbone like a little tunnel. I used every measure of financial aid with insurance and still ended up owing over a grand. Impacted wisdom tooth that turned bad.
Generally speaking, no. However, depending on the hospital in question and their policies, there are hospitals who will waiver the cost if you are a victim of a crime. I happen to know this because there is a local hospital near me tagt do exactly this. Some other hospitals, again depending on the individual hospital, have programs where they can assist with the cost for patients who are unable to foot the bill because of a lack of resources. But that is not every hospital, and more than likely you will be expected to foot the bill no matter what.
you don't pay up front at the ER, and there's nothing stopping you from just not paying. Hospitals will want the money, though, and they'll harass you to get it.
In those extreme circumstances you might get NGO or GoFundMe money to pay for your medical care, or if the National Guard gets deployed for a natural disaster they might be able to treat really minor wounds for free. Some Hospitals have financial aid, but that's usually by poorness, not emergency. Some hospitals will give free care if they're connected to a University, or you're getting experimental treatment and/or are a part of a research group, but that's only some of their patients, generally just for chronic diseases, and doesn't necessarily pay for everything. Some certain hospitals will have specific things for some people that are free, I remember a certain hospital treating gunshot wounds for free or something like that, thanks in part to a deal with the state.
The lack of universal healthcare coverage in the US is not the only problems of healthcare management in Western countries. The poor planning by Canadian government and bad treatment of Canadian nurses encourages many nurses to either quit their nursing career, continue their nursing career in the US, or move to the private healthcare sector. Even the initiative to hire more foreign nurses does not compensate for the shortage of nurses. This creates a vicious cycle where the low nurses per demand puts more unsustainable workload on the remaining nurses which, in turn, cause more nurses to quit their jobs. The nurse shortage also creates shortage of senior nurses that can train new nurses for the vicious cycle. The most absurd part of this is that the Canadian media is focusing the public attention to the danger of Donald Trump and "repressive" governments on other countries while negating public attention to the vicious cycle of nurse shortage.
You are responsible for the bill, period, unless you get a grant or judgement in your favor. Or gofundme.
They are legally required to help no matter your ability to pay but that doesn't mean they won't try their best to force you into debt after