Im in America and I am sitting on the side of the road with a broken leg...
 

I have no insurance...

What happens - Do they just leave me their until someone takes pity?....

I have always lived in countries with free healthcare - I am just wondering how it works in the US if you are in an emergency situation or have a potentially terminal illness that can be treated...

* I am happily sitting n my sofa in London without a broken leg - Don't worry:upsidedow.....

They will take you to hospital and then you will be in debt I guess.

Exactly.

The hospital will fix you and bill you. If you don't have the money to pay they will either let you make payments or apply for some kind of hardship/charity which may reduce or eliminate the bill.

Worst case scenario is that you need surgery to fix your leg and end up in the hospital for a few days and run up a $30-$40K bill that they don't forgive and decide to sue you to get.

You'd take a $400 ambulance ride to the hospital where you'd sit for an hour or two (if you're lucky). You'll be given a few asprin (at cost of $40 each), get some x-rays (that cost a small fortune), they'll set the break and put it in a temporary cast (because you need to see and be charged by your orthopedic surgeon too!) and send you on your way with a (huge) bill...that you can pay off at $5 a month for the rest of your life if you so choose.

removed..........

Your mentioning the other doctors reminds me of an interesting point. About a year and half ago I had some medical problems and was in the hospital for four days. When I first got there they had my admitting doctor handling things. He eventually handed me off to the doctor that did all the other care. The first day I was there I had about 3-4 different doctors come in, talk to me for a few minutes and take notes. When I asked if they were my doctor they said no they just wanted to see how I was doing.

When the bill came I saw that all of those doctors charged me about $200 each for a "consultation." It was a nice way for them to run up the bill.

Yep. That's all part of the scam. My sister works in the health care business. It's nuts what they try to get away with.

You'll get fucked one way or another, just don't break your leg in the first place :2 cents:

It's cheaper to die in American than live.

This is a country that exploits it's own population. 99% of the people are slaves working their pathetic lives away for the other 1%.

The bad news is that the young and uninsured are not sure either. So they avoid medical care. Great system.

:(

You're fucked and have to pay, if you can't pay, they will leave you to rot.

My brother's lung collapsed in Vegas once, had full medical travel insurance and it took him 4 years of fighting to get the money back.

Conversely, if an American breaks their leg here, we fix them up for nothing and send them on their way.

Is that for real? :helpme

Someone will come along soon enough to shoot you. No hospital is needed. Just morgue.

Yes that is accurate. I assume a broken leg will run 1 to 2k depending on how bad it is.

doesn't the uk cover residents abroad for insurance? Ours does.. I wouldn't even need travel insurance technically.

If you're here legally you're fucked. If you swam across the border we'll fix it for free give you a medical card incase you break the other one. Enroll your children in school and give your wife an EBT card you can buy fast food with.

Pretty much.

:Oh crap Here it's all free. I mean the emergency call, the x-ray, the leg fixing procedure etc. Furthermore, if you'll need a hospitalization it will be free too. In most cases it will be not the best hospital room for several persons, but if you want a singe-person VIP room, you can always pay for it.

No. You need to buy separate travel insurance. Which he had. But it took sooo long to get the many many many thousands of pounds back...

clearly the op missed the 18 gazillion other threads about america healthcare being cash and carry.

we get it, you live in a wonderful w [orld of free. wow, yay. you win. yeeh haa. americka sux boo hiss broken leg = life ruined, sued, world suck, yay british football. handegg sucx

how many times do you peeps need to point your finger at shit over the same shit. get over it. i have a hard time understanding why the op sits around in a british apartment worrying about peeps with broken legs on the side of the road in america so much that he has to start a thread about it. nevermind the fact this has been hashed and refucking hashed here for fucking years.

It't not free. We pay for it.

But maybe because we're aren't selfish we're happy to fix up people from other countries visiting us, rather than leaving them to die if they can't pay.

Poor? Fuck you. Die.

defensive much? nobody bashing you here.

most of us (well maybe not) realize its not as simple as switching with a country your size..

Most of the people that discuss it here are Americans so they know the answer to basic questions like this - The basics are often overlooked because its assumed that everyone knows...

I have not read a thread where this question has been answered, or at least I don't remember it.....

You seem to think that my question was an attack - It absolutely wasn't...

Take a chill pill - If you can't afford one I will buy it for you:winkwink:.....

i didn't invent capitalism and i didn't create the system, nevertheless, i don't point my fucking finger around at everybody else's system from the comfort of my wel-appointed apartment about something that's been done about 1000 times here.


mom? is that you. speak for yourself, not for others because i assure you you are not *most of us*.

So why would anyone NOT have insurance?

ok, buy me a chill pill since you are not on the attack and all, you're just casually suggesting i can't afford a $2 pill right?

Pre existing condition.

And that excuse is used to not only not issue policies but more importantly not pay claims to those that are actually insured. Nothing worse than having insurance, paying for it each month then having an insurance company office worker decide you aren't covered.

I can paypal you $5 to buy some tampons if you like?

Get an E111 card and you get free health care, my wife had one when we lived in the UK, she had to go to hospital one time on our travels and we didn't get charged a cent.

You are right. My Dad had a Heart Attack in the UK while there on business. They took great care of him and he didnt owe a dime.

sure thing, pm your paypal addy.

i'll post in the thread when i receive payment.

Can't see anyone suggesting you did. Straw men ftw!

That's because everyone else's healthcare system works. We pay into it. We get fixed and fix others that need fixing.

This isn't medieval times. If people are ill, fix them.

I guess the rest of the 1st world just is gobsmacked your country would let someone die on the side of the road.

If you can prove your financial situation. Being you have none, then its paid for by the state

I can post 1000 threads from around the internet where people not in America have glass sewn into them, wait for months for care, get misdiagnosed, etc.

hundreds of thousands of people travel to the US every year for healthcare.

The quality is high, and the cost is high.

I was in a hospital in the UK. Some poor devil took a crap on the cement floor, and it was still there 24 hours later. One guy in the large communal room we were in had to call his lawyer to get a nurse. Every single medical practitioner I saw was of indian origin. I was asked to pull gauze out of my nose myself and nearly choked. The "physician's assistant" (read cheap ass indian with very little training and a fancy title) said-"I'm glad you were able to get it out, if you had choked you might have been done for" I saw a guy with blood gushing out of his face collapse for lack of blood. Result? Big bloody pool with man in the middle of it. Free hospital looked like an American prison.

After three days of very little care, and medieval hygiene, I switched to a paid hospital. There, the doctors talked about what ballet they'd seen the night before. I had a brief procedure, and was out in two hours.

I'm glad you're proud of your healthcare, but the main reason you have any advances is because of the US. Our hospitals and universities developed nearly all modern procedure. Whenever you want to stop progress in a field, go 100% socialized.

Do poor people deserve healthcare? Yes. But no one has arrived at a perfect solution.

yes, this seems like the battle you should get into today.

ah yes, debt, the banks love it, they even flushed the world economy down the toilet all because they love debt

http://www.tolerance.org/immigration-myths
Undocumented immigrants don?t pay taxes but still get benefits.
Ask students what are some ways Americans pay taxes, as in income tax and sales tax. Undocumented immigrants pay taxes every time they buy gas, clothes or new appliances. They also contribute to property taxes?a main source of school funding?when they buy or rent a house, or rent an apartment. The Social Security Administration estimates that half to three-quarters of undocumented immigrants pay federal, state and local taxes, including $6 billion to $7 billion in Social Security taxes for benefits they will never get. They can receive schooling and emergency medical care, but not welfare or food stamps.

i have 2 pre-existing conditions and have not had insurance for years. i pay my way. every fucking cent for over 15 years of running my own businesses. i've paid for $50k surgeries and i pay for all my monthly meds, doctor visits, syringes, er visits. everything. i use the resources available, i negotiate, i harass and harangue to get prices down.

i don't whine that bullshit here or making bullshit comparos between countries.

umm, did you already forget you came at me? fyi brainiac, you came at me.

While in the hospital you'll be visited by state workers whose job it is to come give pamphlets with options for the uninsured including state and federal aid if you qualify.

My ambulance ride was $600 by the way and that was 4 and a half years ago. Guess it depends a lot as is to be expected in for-profit business.

Hundreds of thousands of people arent coming here for medical care. My father got excellent care in the UK.

Lmfao

Chill dude, he was just asking a question.

I haven't had insurance since I was 19, I turn 28 on Monday. There has been 1 time where I could have benefited from having insurance but was able to pay in payments NO PROBLEM. I had an emergency room visit, night in the hospital, various specialist visits, xrays and pills. You know what's amusing is how cheap shit like percocet is with no insurance. I was able to buy 50 percocets for 25 dollars but I also needed 10 antibiotics and those cost me around 85. :error

In my opinion only some of the system is broken and Obamacare is nothing but another bill I will be forced to pay, in the end insurance companies and politicians will win, not the people.

this is what really happens to someone with a serious bone break without insurance in america

i broke my foot and didn't realize it. combined with my pre-existing condition, the broken bone became infected and as my blood went septic, was ambulanced to the er, then hospital for 14 days, the first 6 day were various doctors coming by to try and figure out how much of my foot to cut off.

in fact, they did not know how much they needed to remove when they put me under for the surgery. nor did they really care since they all knew i was uninsured and paying out of pocket.

i woke up to this, ~13% of my foot removed, bone and all, had to use a cane (that i also had to buy) to get around for a while.

total bill to me: over $50k

http://i.imgur.com/Ea22zIS.jpg

What?

"Each year, some 600,000 international patients visit the United States seeking excellence in specialty care?especially in complex or "last resort" cases.

http://www.patientsbeyondborders.com/united-states

Great story about your father, but would you care to post a reliable source to refute the one I have posted?

Warning! The preceding image should not have been viewed by those with a weak stomach.

This has everything to do with quality doctors and nothing to do with cost of the care. Right?

How would they prove that if you moved to the country when you were, say 42...?


Personally I don't understand why everyone doesn't get free healthcare. Every single (real) study says it's better for everyone. Including the rich that can pay on their own.

Ya, it works the same in Canada. I can't imagine having to worry about paying for stuff like that directly out of your pocket.

But I suppose we are paying for it in other ways. It costs $45 for a case of beer (cans) here, while I can drive across the border and buy one for $20 tax included.