I saw on an episode of Judge Judy a case involving a deadbeat guy and someone suing him for not repaying a loan which is the usual fare but the deadbeat said something that made me wonder about how the American health system works.
In a nutshell the guy said that he inherited $50,000 from his his deceased wife's life insurance policy but this was $30,000 in actual cash he received because there were $20,000 medical costs involved in emergency bills. No other details are given but from that it sounds like the woman was taken suddenly ill and the Emergency Room bills were $20,000 which I imagine are made up of various costs as and when they arise such as the deployment of life saving equipment. He mentioned that the treament lasted about 20 minutes so from that it's fair to say it was in an emergency room setting.
This is the scenario - someone is walking down a New York street (or any American street) and suddenly collapses unconscious. What is the reaction of emergency services in terms of health insurance or ability to pay for any treatment before it's carried out? In an emergency like a cardiac arrest there isn't time to be checking means of covering the bill so how does it work and does it vary between states? Can hospitals freeroll non-insured patients so they get free treatement like in that charming episode of Scrubs.
I can understand ER care will be the most expensive part but if you survive and need ongoing care then $50,000 isn't going to last long so how can somone be charged so much for life saving treatement and will it be given without your consent and then get invoiced with a five figure sum if you pull through?
