I’m just saying you’re not gonna die if they can help it.
Dead people can’t pay, so it’s in their interests to keep you alive.
Comment on How do poor people in the states give birth without money?
mechoman444@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The same way anyone else does you go to the hospital. They are required to provide anyone with medical care especially in emergency situations.
Many hospitals in the us simply offer these kinds of medical things for free, if one qualifies.
The difference is at the end of the medical procedures one could get slapped with a medical bill… That one can discard outright. Medical dept is more often than not forgiven or forgotten by the hospital. It could be reported on your credit history but that is also often times overlooked or not calculated by the credit reporting agency.
America basically has universal healthcare. Of course there are very serious situations concerning long term care and unorthodox or experimental procedures that can be denied if they aren’t paid for.
And don’t get me wrong the health care system in America is a travesty and a human and civil rights issue that needs to be resolved!
I’m just saying you’re not gonna die if they can help it.
i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 1 year ago
moistclump@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Stupid question: can you just not tell them who you are?
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
Nope. You will have to fill out paperwork after triage and before being put in a bed.
skulblaka@kbin.social 1 year ago
If you want to give birth in the hospital they're going to need to create a birth certificate. That probably requires ID.
Otherwise if you just get dropped off at the front door of the emergency room with no ID on you, you'll get treated as a John Doe. Basically, unidentified person needs assistance. I don't know how exactly that situation works its way through the billing department.
halferect@lemmy.world 1 year ago
For stuff like in and out treatment you can but if you need ongoing care or prescriptions it would be difficult and either way if you get caught you are gonna get in trouble, fines, possible jail time so it’s best to just give your real info and just not pay or plead your case with the indigent fund hospitals usually have. All that said I’ve known plenty of people who have given fake info and have has no repercussions
gedaliyah@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Birth is not necessarily an emergency room procedure. In order to have the baby at the hospital, they usually require a portion of payment upfront, along with insurance. If there are complications, they might admit you without a prior plan, but you’d be in the emergency room rather than obstetrics.
The second answer is that they will just bill you and you can pay it off over years or just let it go to collections. They have legally more limited ways to collect medical debt. They can harass you and ding your credit but they can’t garnish wages, etc. As long as you are making a minimum payment, they may not be able to send it to collections (sometimes a few dollars a month).
Collections is a whole other mess.
mechoman444@lemmy.world 1 year ago
So no. What you have said is a lie. I have no idea what motivation you have by making something this up but you did and you should be ashamed.
If a woman in labor enters a hospital in the United States they are legally required by law to deliver the baby regardless of how the person can pay.
Later after the woman and baby are discharged they can send them bills for the medical procedures whatever those maybe and yes they have the option of going after that debt in whatever way our legal system allows them to.
What I am saying is, specifically for medical debt they don’t often go after especially in emergency situations and end of life situations.
gedaliyah@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’m not a lawyer but I’ve been through the process and I know that OBs aren’t usually in an emergency room. Sorry for any inaccuracies, I’m just speaking from my personal experience.
CaptObvious@literature.cafe 1 year ago
I can tell you from experience that they will shuttle end-of-life patients around to other facilities because no one wants that death in their ER. They play hot potato until the person dies, then hound the survivors for payment.
mechoman444@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yes because there are specific facilities at least in the US that cater specifically to end of life situations this is a perfectly normal thing at least here.
Unfortunately I have also experienced this in my life with family members so I am acutely aware of how this works.
I’m not defending this practice nor am I saying it’s good I’m specifically addressing emergency medical care and how it will be billed for in the United States.