Silly question! What happens if you can’t afford hospital care I’m America?

[PrettyLittleLiar20]

This is going to make me sound stupid I know!

So here in the UK we have the nhs and even if you’re working you’re hospital stay and care is free!

So what happens in the US if you work but can’t afford to pay hospital fees? Do you have to pay it in instalments or are things like having a baby and cancer treatment free?

I'm not a big fan of charging a fee to see GP or A&E. While i fully agree we need to deter time wasters there is always going to be someone who doesn't have the tenner or whatever when they need care.

It could end up being a false economy to charge for the GP if things are not caught early because people don't want to pay for appointments and end up needing more expensive treatment for something later on.

It's a system that can only ever work for certain individuals, never for society as a whole as we're about to see.

Where I live you are charged for specialist visits (or they are free depending on your income). The charge is a fraction of their real cost. However, if you fail to turn up to an appointment you are charged. Since introducing this, no-shows have dropped a lot.

@NathanNathan 15,000?! Not 1500, which would be shocking enough. Ironically it’s probably so expensive due to public liability.

I'm now doubting myself as it was a couple of years ago, and I posted again after to say it was $1500, but I think it actually was $15,000. Gonna have a look for my paperwork from the bad old days

We (as a family) did have plans to emigrate to the States but due to medical conditions that two of our DSs have, the healthcare insurance would be very expensive or would not cover their underlying conditions.
I am so very grateful for the NHS, as no one in my household would be here today if it wasn't for medical care that we have received at some point in our lives.

Bankruptcy or death. Fantastic eh?

They are obliged to give emergency treatment regardless of ability to pay. They can pursue you afterwards for the cost.

I wish we could opt out and reduce our tax bills by a third.
This attitude is very myopic. You might not be using the NHS a lot at the moment, but who knows what will happen in the future? You might need it to save your life, and it would have cost you hundreds of thousands of pounds if you had to pay for it privately. And even if you never need it because you drop dead from a heart attack aged 70, not having used the NHS for 3 decades before that, your contributions mean expensive treatments for cancer patients, premature babies, victims of horrific accidents are possible. You are not just paying for yourself, you are also paying for others.
I don't understand why the Americans, who generally have a strong Christian faith, can't see this.

The us system is far from perfect. But if you have good insurance you are generally getting far better healthcare than the NHS would ever give. There is a difference attitude there - healthcare is more about choices. I am glad of the NHS but I recognise that the care or options there are not perfect.

I have a friend who moved to America. He has good healthcare cover through his work but even a small thing is costly. He cut his finger badly enough to need stitches and it cost him £500.

It will always amaze me how proponents of the NHS threaten the US system whenever anyone suggests sensible (or less sensible) changes (and vice versa - US polemicists argue that they are turning into the UK).

The reality is that both pale in comparison to the majority of other Western European systems - they should be the natural comparators.

Yep- France and Germany both have much better systems, IMO. I'm not familiar with others, but imagine that many of them are similar.

I agree about the tiresome narrative in both the US and the UK - that there can only be the two possible extremes and any variation of whichever one has means a radical swing to the other

One really good aspect of the US system which others have mentioned is not needing a GP for every single thing. So for example if you have debilitating periods in the UK, your GP will probably do nothing the first time you see them, then prescribe the pill, then maybe the coil, perhaps a script for tranexamic acid, then months or even years down the line you'll finally get to see a gynaecologist. Whereas in systems like the US where you choose who to go to you'd just book a gynae appointment straightaway. Less time consuming for everyone.

@Freeshavocado Was it 'Don't shoot the Pharmacist?'