Free health care at the ER? I don't know about

[nadinbrzezinski]

Congressman Librey, or whoever he is on the tweet show. But having taken dad to the ER... FREE? Where exactly was that FREE care?

I guess i contacted the wrong people or went to the wrong 'spital.

Them talking points are so off track it's not even funny

[undeterred]

1. My Aetna health care plan pays $100 toward an ER visit

and I pay the rest. And I picked the best coverage offered to me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Well dad was here as a tourist

so in his world we should have had free care.

Well not quite.

He fit what the congressman believes is reality...

[DesertFlower]

8. my deductible was not satisfied. that's

why it cost me that much. the thing that pissed me off was that the doctor spent less than 5 minutes with me. the nurse took all the info, set up the IV, etc. and the doc got paid $599. i called united health care to complain and they said that's the standard payment for an ER doctor throughout the country.

[DesertFlower]

2. last year i went to the ER. i asked them

if they wanted my insurance information. they said "not now". a few hours later after seeing the doctor and with an IV in my arm, they finally asked for it. that little visit cost almost $700.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. You really do not want to know how much a hip fracture

ran...

But according to the Congressman it should have been free.

[DesertFlower]

5. i'm afraid to ask. i assume

your dad has medicare.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Nope, he was here as a tourist

Thankfully they saved, and why they don't have insurance involves a US company...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Anybody who thinks emergency rooms treat people for free has never used one.

A public hospital can't turn someone away because they don't have insurance. But that person definitely will be billed. If it turns out they can't pay the hospital has to eat it, but they will most certainly try to collect.

So this bullshit about everybody having access to health care because "they can just go to the emergency room" is just that -- bullshit. Emergency rooms treat emergencies and they send you or your insurer a bill. And if you need treatment for a chronic illness, or if you need surgery on a non-emergency basis, you won't get it at the emergency room. They'll patch you up if you have a car accident but they won't provide physical therapy afterwards, or plastic surgery if your face got all cut up. They'll provide emergency treatment for diabetic coma, but they won't supply your daily insulin. They'll deliver your baby but they won't take care of it for months afterwards if it's born with a disability. And so forth.

So much stupidity out there...

[underpants]

9. My brother had wages garnished for the ambulance fee

The whole ER story is....wait for it... a lie

[DesertFlower]

10. like i said the doctor got paid $599. the cost

for those who cannot pay get passed on to those who can.

[ejpoeta]

11. how do they collect? by charging $50 for a bandaid. they spread the costs around to everyone.

that's why i always say we pay three times. first we pay in taxes for medicare, medicaid. then we pay our premiums for our insurance. and then we pay again when we are overcharged for everything to cover the uninsured and unable to pay. then we pay to an insurance that as soon as we get sick and can't work will drop us like a hot potato keeping all those payments we made for themselves and leaving us to be lucky if we can get on medicaid. but that's the system we want, right?