|
Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ubertuber
Cynthetiq - by not buying health insurance in your 20s, you didn't really opt out of the system. What you did was gamble everyone else's money that you wouldn't require urgent care. Thankfully you came out ahead. What would have happened if you had tripped and broken your leg? What if you had gotten meningitis and had to be rushed to the emergency room? What about appendicitis? You would have been treated, because, as so many have pointed out, the emergency department is generally required to provide stabilizing care. Do you really think that they'd turn you away if you couldn't afford an appendectomy, dooming you to near-certain death from sepsis when your appendix burst? Or would you have had the fortitude to say, "no thanks, I can't afford that operation, and it's not fair for others to pay since I opted out of the system. I'll go die now."? So truthfully, you were forgoing preventative care (which could have prevented and lowered the cost of some disastrous medical situations) but not actually removing yourself from the medical ecosystem entirely. Now it is my turn to ask: is it fair for my insurance company to end up footing your bills for emergency treatment when you think that you have opted out of the system?
|
If you are not insured are you not outside of the medical ecosystem? ER sends bills, so do the doctors. Is it because they give the "jorgelito" discount that your insurance company is paying some of it?
To answer your question, no it is not fair. I concede that point. But again, I paid for my motorcycle accident on my own. I was eventually reimbursed for it via insurance because of having an attorney. If I did not, if it was solely my fault then I paid for my own injuries, how is that not opting out of the health insurance system?
During the time that I was uninsured, so was my uncle. During that time he had an extreme case of diverticulitis (sp?) and was hospitalized. He had a operation which resulted in colostomy and was on that for way to long for his own stupidity resulting in some sort of complication and was in the hospital again. He paid for all the operations and hospitalization out of his own pocket.
My motorcycle accident resulted in me having a broken collarbone and whatever dressings and checks had to come from the accident. I paid for whatever bills came as a result of that ER visit and doctors follow up. I do recall asking the EMS what the cost of the ambulance was because a few years before my sister had been rushed to the hospital in Singapore due to a car accident. They breakdown for the ambulance service there listed using the siren as an extra charge. The EMS in the township of Englewood, NJ directed me that it was a volunteer service and that I was free to make a donation. I never made a donation afterwards. To my knowledge insurance companies do not fund or pay volunteer EMS services.
Currently in my neighborhood Hatzalah responds almost as fast if not faster than NYFD EMS with "legendary" response time averages between 2 to 4 minutes, NYFD is approximately 11 minutes.
Quote:
Hatzalah
Chevra Hatzalah, a non-profit corporation, is the largest all-volunteer Ambulance Service in the United States, providing premium quality pre-hospital emergency medical treatment and transportation at no cost to all who need it, regardless of race, religion or ethnicity. Chevra Hatzalah does not receive any government funding on any level – not from any Federal, State or local governmental agency – nor does it seek reimbursement from medical insurance companies. Chevra Hatzalah, which was founded in NYC in 1965, has become a model for similar Hatzalah rescue and ambulance services throughout the world.
|
__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.
|