Quote:
Originally Posted by marketsmart
all you people crying about health insurance costs, go to the ER like all the rest of the poor and low lifes do...
they get treated and dont pay a dime... 
i love how people blame the govt for not making them successful enough in life to be able to pay for their healthcare...  |
Medicaid recipients can visit the ER anytime at zero cost (practically an incentive to use it), and hence for many of them the ER is, in effect, their primary physician.
However, for people with no insurance, but owning assets, trying to get a free ride at the ER will often work out badly and be a very costly ordeal...
Firstly, those without insurance will often be at charged upwards of 3 TIMES more than an insurance company would be for the same services.
Secondly, to make matters worse, hospitals and doctors are very aggressive at collecting debt.
Bottom line is for many people who earn an above poverty-level income and own assets the ER is going to cost them; no free ride.
As for self-insuring / paying cash ... many people paying cash think getting 10% or 20% is great when in reality they're still getting deeply gouged ... any discount less than 50% off is too much; insurance companies often pay around 1/3 the "cash" price.
Ron