I’m Canadian. And I’m already sorry for asking an ignorant question.
I know you have to pay for hospital visits in the states. I know lower economic status can come with lower access to birth control and sex education. But then, how do they afford to give birth? Do people ever avoid hospital visits because they don’t feel like they can’t afford it?
Do hospitals put people on a payment plan? Is it possible to give birth and not pay if you don’t have the means? How does it work in the states?
How does it all work?
Again. Canadian. And sorry.
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.
Stupid question: can you just not tell them who you are?
Nope. You will have to fill out paperwork after triage and before being put in a bed.
You can be prosecuted for fraud for providing false info.
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.
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 had no repercussions
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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.
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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.
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.
Dead people can’t pay, so it’s in their interests to keep you alive.