Poor person with no medical coverage here. I work in retail hell, and am barely scraping by. I have no insurance and no money for medical bills. I have a doctor that I go to as little as possible, since they charge between $70 and $90 per visit.
When I have medical problems, the doctors office usually won’t see me in under 2 weeks no matter what the problem is. The first thing they ask me when I walk in is not “what’s your name?”, but “do you have insurance?”. If I get sick in the winter and miss work, they tell me to go to the emergency room. I had diverticulitis once and went to the doctors office complaining of a severe stomach ache. I was told to go to the emergency room. Would I get turfed to the ER if I had insurance, or would they open their schedule and see me that day? I don’t know, but a lot of doctors will tell people to go to the emergency room if something comes up that needs to be treated within the next few days.
I will also point out that the hospital milks as much money from you as they can. When I had the diverticulitis, they put me in a room for 3 days. Literally all they did during this time was give me meds and check my BP. I told them repeatedly that I didn’t understand the point of me being there and was told “We have to keep an eye on you”. Give me meds, send me home, and I’ll check with my doctor in a few days? No, they didn’t like that. Then I got hit with a bill for $3000. I’m one crisis away from living in my car, there’s no way I can afford to pay this. I got jumped once by about 6 people, and went to the hospital to get a huge gash on my head stitched. They insisted on taking, over my protests, about 50 x-rays of my skull, then sent me a bill for $1000. The strategy is to bill people for as much as possible to attempt to recoup money from people that don’t pay, but then I get bad marks on my credit and bill collectors hounding me for money I don’t have. If there was a place I got get low cost or free non emergency medical treatment, believe me I’d be there. No one I’ve ever spoken to at the hospital or my doctor’s office has ever suggested one. I’ve asked and was told they didn’t know.
So I tend to let health problems go as long as possible before seeking treatment, then go to the ER and get huge bills that I don’t pay. It sucks and I’m aware that I’m contributing to the problems, but I literally don’t have any other options.
I agree that this is a huge problem, but I don’t think their motivations are what you think they are. I think they are quite honestly trying to give you the best medical care they can give you, and are being extremely thorough, and they have the misguided idea that cost should generally not be a consideration. When I go to the doctor, I always have the urge to ask “how much is that going to cost? oh, and how much of that is my insurance going to cover?” because I’ve felt the pain of paying huge amounts out-of-pocket for care I didn’t feel I needed. And this is with great insurance.
My heart goes out to you. And my sister was in the same boat. I impressed upon her the importance of having insurance, and that if she couldn’t afford to buy it (which she couldn’t) she needed to get a job that had it. She, maybe like you, wasn’t making a lot of money and was afraid to take a different job that paid less. But she wound up getting a job that paid 50 cents an hour less but gave her insurance. so she wound up with a package that was worth, say, $25,000 instead of $21,000. She got seriously sick not long afterwards. Thanks goodness she went and found a job with insurance. You may want to rethink employment in those terms. I wish you luck. It’s really important to have insurance.
Of course, many people cannot even find jobs in today’s market, so they cannot afford to be picky when one without insurance becomes available. And many employers who previously offered insurance are dropping it because it has become too expensive, or their own finances have taken a hit in this economy. Bottom line: your advice is just salt in the wound of many unemployed people.
At a message board dominated by Ron Paul Conservatives, the advice given was to give a false name and address when you go to the ER, so they won’t be able to find you to bill you. :rolleyes:
It’s not so much that they have health insurance, it’s that they’re likely to have some form of insurance. Most motor vehicle accidents involve an at-fault party, so the ER bill will get paid eventually by one of the auto insurers.
I spent 24 hours in the hospital this weekend, arriving at the ER via ambulance and eventually being admitted. (long story short: vagovagal stuff, hard day kayaking, dehydration, lots beer, all leading to a drop in BP and collapse).
The most surprising thing was how easily the ER found my health insurance info. I arrived sans wallet. With my name and SS number they were able to go online and have everything they needed! It was kinda scary, although it made the process go much easier.
Have you Googled Community Health Centers and your city or state? Or use this site to search: http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/ This system is not perfect, but it is one other option for affordable non-emergency care. The CHC system is the current recommended alternative to the poor and uninsured overusing ERs. I’m not saying it’s adequate, but it’s not like the issue is completely unknown and unaddressed.
I was in the same situation for many years. I certainly didn’t mean my response to be against care for the poor. When I mention controlling the situation, I mean that a better policy would put everyone in a better position, even the poor. Being against national health care is unreasonable. We have it, we just do it really badly. Lets stop doing it badly.
I recently had to deal with some jackass who gave a bunch of local clinics, ER’s, and doctors MY post office box as his address. So MY box is filling up - LITERALLY filling up (I rent a small box) with HIS crap and I’m having trouble getting my mail. We tried sending it back (me and the post office) but the crap kept coming and coming and coming…
I didn’t open any of the mail - that would, of course, have been illegal - but before it was stamped “return to sender” I started calling the medical providers involved and telling them that no, I had no clue who this jerk was; he was not a friend, relative, associate, etc.; I was not covering for him :rolleyes: ; I have had that box NINE YEARS so, no, it wasn’t a recent change; bottom line HE LIED. He lied MANY TIMES to MANY PEOPLE. No, I have NO WAY to find him, I wish I DID, because not only would I direct all of these many medical providers to him I would ALSO turn his ass in to the Post Office for whatever they could nail him for (mis-use of a PO box? Mail fraud?) AND maybe send over a few folks I know from the construction industry to personally teach him the Error of His Ways. After which he will no doubt need to re-visit the ER, the spinal clinic, and maybe the medical imaging place again as well as the pain clinic and various other establishments.
Yeah, I’m just a little bothered by the hassle…
(No, I would not really hire some thugs. I just fantasize about it. I would not actually do it. I would send lawyers instead. Much scarier)
It’s like this guy was out there thinking, “Well, I’m going to steal from a bunch of people who saved my life. Hmmm, is there any way I could be a bigger asshole here?”
More likely “I haven’t got the money to pay these people who saved my life and don’t want collection agencies to make my life a living hell” - but yeah, maybe he’s just and out-and-out thief.