I recently had my first medical emergency, and I’m in the USA. It actually is pretty abysmal.
In my case, I wasn’t literally on death’s door, but I had an injury that I could not stop the bleeding from (and obviously could not tell how bad things were).
So, the first responder was able to control the bleeding during the ambulance ride. And once that part was done, they moved right into the ID, billing info, and insurance info right there in the ambulance.
I still needed additional emergency care, of course. So, we arrive at the emergency room, they check my vitals, and then as soon as the nurse is done with that part, and before I received any treatment, they were asking me for the same ID, billing info, and insurance questions.
Even with insurance that costs nearly $1,000 USD a month, I had to pay entirely for the ambulance ride and the emergency room doctor’s fees (both were classified as out of network), as well as the co-insurance (20% of the inflated “insurance” cost for treatment that was “in-network”), and so on.
So I can understand why this type of advice is going around.
On the other hand, if your emergency room visit requires follow-up care and/or prescription medication, giving false (or no) identifying information will complicated that part so I hope you have good black/grey market connections or a relative with a pharmacy’s worth of old prescriptions they didn’t finish.
Health insurance provides an important service to the economy, making sure that consumers have access to a variety of providers. Really it’s about protecting Americans’ freedom of choice when it comes to their health and bodies!
I recently had my first medical emergency, and I’m in the USA. It actually is pretty abysmal.
In my case, I wasn’t literally on death’s door, but I had an injury that I could not stop the bleeding from (and obviously could not tell how bad things were).
So, the first responder was able to control the bleeding during the ambulance ride. And once that part was done, they moved right into the ID, billing info, and insurance info right there in the ambulance.
I still needed additional emergency care, of course. So, we arrive at the emergency room, they check my vitals, and then as soon as the nurse is done with that part, and before I received any treatment, they were asking me for the same ID, billing info, and insurance questions.
Even with insurance that costs nearly $1,000 USD a month, I had to pay entirely for the ambulance ride and the emergency room doctor’s fees (both were classified as out of network), as well as the co-insurance (20% of the inflated “insurance” cost for treatment that was “in-network”), and so on.
So I can understand why this type of advice is going around.
On the other hand, if your emergency room visit requires follow-up care and/or prescription medication, giving false (or no) identifying information will complicated that part so I hope you have good black/grey market connections or a relative with a pharmacy’s worth of old prescriptions they didn’t finish.
The concept of an “out of network ambulance” makes my blood boil
Oh, hello, yes you are probably a real human then! Nice to meet you!
Oh shit they’re on to me
Uhhh
Health insurance provides an important service to the economy, making sure that consumers have access to a variety of providers. Really it’s about protecting Americans’ freedom of choice when it comes to their health and bodies!