I am 100% for changing the system and moving to single payer.
We have not done that.
I am against criminal theft that leads the continued skyrocketing of Healthcare cost under the system we have that also harms people who actually need ER facilities.
If I should be ashamed of not endorsing criminal theft, then consider me super ashamed.
No.
Minimum/Good faith payments.
Carry the debt. Like everyone else.
Don't be a criminal.
What is so hard to understand about this?
You cant afford a car. Do you go and steal a Lexus? No, you get a used PT Cruiser and you make the payments. Capitalism isn't that hard to understand, if you live in America, you need to understand it until we get some Socialism installed, which I am for, but breaking the existing system and fucking over the rest of us is not the way.
Taking on 300 dollars in debt for a trip to a private practice is FAR better than taking on 3000 dollars in debt by going to an ER. And just skipping out on the bill you run out isn't an option. That is theft.
Well spoken, good points. I do take exception to:
the majority of individuals who cannot afford insurance are also likely the patient who cannot afford a cash pay clinic
and
The fact is also that a large number of uninsured patients will simply have their ER bills written off by the hospital
You are going into emergency care. You are doing gods work. For your sanity, I think you have the best outlook to take on what you are about to take on. That said...
An ER is always going to cost orders of magnitude more than a private practice. When the hospital "writes off" bills, they aren't waving a magic wand and making that expenditure of resources disappear. The hospital is making the call that collections activities cost money and will never see a return, so they roll the debt into pricing.
That is precisely why hospital care is so cripplingly expensive today.
Insurance or not, hospital care will bankrupt you. That is because poor uneducated people are misinformed and are exploiting the system, causing MASSIVE damage to the system as a whole.
Again, great compassionate mindset for when you are in the ER seeing the patients, but very damaging rhetoric to be preaching to the open internet.
Yikes what?
I am all for the US going single payer. We aren't though.
To be clear, I am saying providing a false name or intending to fully skip out on the bill is theft.
I am arguing with people here who say the ER is the ONLY place you can go if you don't have insurance. That is a lie. There are tons of places you can go, the ER is NOT your only option if you don't have insurance.
I am arguing with people here who say if your uninsured and go to the ER you should provide a false name or fully ignore the bill you run up. That is theft. You take on your debt, you make at least good faith payments, or you file for bankruptcy, just like the rest of us.
No, what isn't getting through your thick skull?
You take on the medical debt. Like everyone else does.
Keep telling people to loot ER doctors and nurses, and acting like you're Robin Hood or some shit.
Shit's just wrong.
I'm not on lemmy.
I live in reality.
I am personally fancy myself an Anarchist/Socialist. I want the world to be more like what you feel entitled to, but you are fucking it for the rest of us and should be ashamed of yourself.
Yes... and if you don't have insurance, the answer is "cash"...
High end providers will decline. Most providers will open a tab...
You do need to put in a little effort. Find the provider for you. Know how to engage in the conversations...
But those locations will turn people away if they don't have the right insurance.
Tell me you have no idea what health insurance is without telling me you have no idea what health insurance is.
A doctor will turn you away for not even attempting to pay your tab.
As long as you are making just good faith payments. 10-15 bucks a month, they will keep your tab open.
When you try to defraud the service provider (try and get clever and try and not pay for your service at all), yes. They will drop you.
That has nothing to do with insurance and has everything to do with you feeling entitled to free Healthcare.
Your argument is the equivelent to "I can't afford food, so I shoplift from the most expensive luxury grocer in my area instead of finding my local food bank."
It is just SO assinine.
But noone is forcing them to use ER as primary care.
You are you so fervently spreading that misinformation?
Obama passed a bill to get EMERGENCY care to those who need it and people like you have exploited that legislation to scam hospitals.
15 dollars a month gets you insurance.
If you didn't bother to go through the process, you can still see a doctor for 200 dollars, which can be held as debt and paid back in however small installments you need. You do need to pay it though.
There is literally no reason for an uninsured person to run up a 2000 at the ER for primary care. Absolutely no reason.
You are telling people in a bad place to do the thing that will make their situation, and all of our situation, worse to the maximum degree.