US v. UK Healthcare -- if you were really in need...

Peedal, What are "meanful events"?

Suzanne, when someone criticises a poster's typo, we call that a "meanful event".

Oh, Wishstar - have I told you lately that I love your husband?!     

Senor Nibbles,

When someone takes it upon him/herself to answer a question directed at someone else, is that a needless-intervene event?

In the US if you don't have health insurance for some reason and you have a medical emergency or are involved in an accident, what happens? Do you have to pay up front or can you pay it off over time? And in such a situation, what kind of hospital would you be taken to? would you get a choice? Just curious.

In my (singular) experience, they'll treat you without insurance, and you won't have to pay on the day:

I visited an American emergency room last Xmas Eve, and they weren't too bothered whether I had insurance or not. They treated me and between January and March I received five separate bills (two from the doctor, one from the ER, one from the blood-test guy and one from the X-ray chick) totalling over $1,000, which my bank's travel insurance took care of, no problem at all.

Overall impression: very friendly, clean and comfortable, took at least as long as an NHS version would've taken, didn't actually fix the problem, and the vending machine was terrible

Back in 1986 I suffered a very bad miscarriage. I was living on my own and had no medical insurance. My mother had to drive me to the hospital and they actually turned me away. I went to the county hospital and they treated me and filed my bill under the Hill Burton act. Nearly 20 years later I don't think they can turn people away now. I was lucky the county hospital treated me.


Also a bit off topic but when I had my appendix out 5 years ago in the USA I got a copy of the bill the hospital sent to my insurance company. What a joke. $3.00 for a single pain killer? They charged ridiculous prices for EVERYTHING....tubing, gauze, etc. The bill was nearly $6000. Now I'm not sure if I had to pay out of my pocket if it would have been the same or if they have special insurance rates. I know you cant compare but when I was a warranty administrator for Chrysler the car dealership I worked for had a body shop and they charge ridiculous prices for the insurance companies and less than half for the customer that was paying out of pocket.

I was going to say that I think it's the "county" hospitals which *have* to treat you.  Private ones can and do turn you away if you aren't waving your insurance card at them.

I worked at a private hospital and our ER was never as busy as the one at the county hospital.  Because they couldn't turn people away, some of the "poor but not poor enough" who had no health care and therefore no regular doctor would use the ER for everything.

I work for a not for profit hospital, so they do not turn people away.  They also write off people's medical bills in the emergency room each year for those who qualify and do not have health insurance.  But the hospital used to be private and I know that unless it was really emergent, they could send you to another hospital and not treat you. 

4 years ago (maybe 5 now?) my mom was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer and underwent hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of treatment that she couldn't afford as they run their own business and are uninsured. Last year the cancer came back and again the bills racked up, she underwent 13 treatments that cost $10,000 A PIECE, not including all the radiation etc. Needless to say she couldn't afford the bill. She and dad have worked with the hospital and had an initial amount chopped off because of their proven inability to pay. They had to open up their books to the world, but it was a necessary evil. For the remainder of the amount she has been able to secure a grant of sorts (I don't know the details) and for the rest of it she is on a low monthly payment plan. She might be paying it off for the rest of her life, but her life will be a lot longer for it so they don't seem to mind accepting the costs, when they look at it that way.

Has anyone seen the movie John Q. with Wesley Snipes? His little boy needs a liver transplant but he isnt fully insured so he isnt even eligible to go on the donor waiting list. Very good movie. Based on a true story.

My one and only experience with US emergency rooms wasn't so terrible.  I was in college and had the worst pain in my side.  I was crawling and throwing up constantly.  I couldn't sit.  I couldn't stand.  I couldn't lie down.  I ended up driving myself to the local hospital (private, not a county hospital) and ended up on the emergency room floor at 3 a.m.  They treated me (for what turned out to be huge cysts on my ovaries) and sent me a $6000 bill a few weeks later.    As I was a college student with no income and was no longer on my dad's insurance (my parents have been divorced since I was 2 and he cut me off the insurance as soon as I turned 18 -- thanks dad!  ), I called the hospital and explained my situation.  They sent me some forms to fill out and I had to include the last year's tax return -- ultimately my bill was written off as a charity case.  I'm assuming that's what happens to everyone who can't pay their bills.

Because they couldn't turn people away, some of the "poor but not poor enough" who had no health care and therefore no regular doctor would use the ER for everything.

There was a couple like that on Dr. Phil a few weeks ago -- they were so tremendously in debt (because they bought designer clothes for their kids instead of paying the bills) that they went to the emergency room for everything because they never had the $25 co-pay required at their doctor's office.     The dad was an engineer and took home $1000 a week -- and it was always gone by Monday. 

There was a couple like that on Dr. Phil a few weeks ago -- they were so tremendously in debt (because they bought designer clothes for their kids instead of paying the bills) that they went to the emergency room for everything because they never had the $25 co-pay required at their doctor's office. The dad was an engineer and took home $1000 a week -- and it was always gone by Monday.

That's disgusting.

When I think of what I could have done for my kids in the US earning $1,000 per week...   I certainly wouldn't have had to spend so much time terrified they would get very sick or hurt and I'd have to take them to a doctor/hospital I couldn't afford because we had no health care...

I came from larger town in what was a rural area.  It had one local hospital (don't know if it was private or not) and no access to medical care after the local doctors shut up shop for the day.  There was nothing like the NHS walk-in centres that are open until 10 pm or so.

I found myself using the emergency room (with five times more expensive co-pay than a dr's office) at least five times for conditions that couldn't wait until morning, but were not serious enough to warrant a hospital stay.  It wasn't until 3 years before I left the US that they finally got around to creating an off-site treatment centre to handle just these types of cases.

In places that have no access to evening/late night/early morning care other than their local hospital, it's little wonder that people use the ER so much.

Pebbles-I saw the movie John Q. and it stars Denzel Washington (not Wesley Snipes).  Great movie, makes me cry every time I see it. 

I've also heard a lot of horror stories about having babies here, with the NHS, so I wouldn't even consider having a baby unless I did so in the States, should I ever have kids. So, to give the short but final answer, I trust physicians in the States more than I do here. No offense is intended to anyone, so please, no verbal assaults.

I appreciate and respect your views, however I must make this point.  A lot of people slag off the NHS and by the sounds of the quote above you are also having a go at the people who work for it.  I admit the NHS is not perfect and there are some major problems that need addressing, however for the people who do slag off the NHS let me ask you this "Do you have private medical insurance" if not why not.  If our NHS system is so bad and you don't trust the people working within it why would you accept any of the FREE health care here.  Suzanne, if your medical procedure became available on the NHS would you accept it here or would you still travel to the US and pay for your treatment?

Through my experience people are very quick to criticize the NHS but are equally very quick to accept the free GP visits or free stays in hospital or very cheap perscription drugs.  Before some of you say its not free due to all those working having to pay NI, thats true but if your out of work you don't pay NI and you still receive free care, so in my opinion it is free.

I was very interested recently to find out from my GF (pittpanther) that if you visit A&E in the US you could be waiting for just as long as you would in the UK, so it begs the question, i reality how bad is the NHS.

Lastly I trust all medical professionals from whatever country they come from (including the US).  They train and work very hard to keep us healthy and I thank them for that. 

Rant Over

Steve