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In the US, a hospital is required to give you emergency treatment first, and figure out how you're going to pay later. If you don't have insurance coverage, tha
by thaeli 10y ago
In the US, a hospital is required to give you emergency treatment first, and figure out how you're going to pay later. If you don't have insurance coverage, that can mean ruinous bills, but no, they don't check before treating you in an emergency situation. For non-emergency stuff, yes, you need to pay or present insurance info up front.
- ensignavenger 10y agoOf course, your definition of emergency might not match the hospitals.
- djrogers 10y agoActually, no - a hospital emergency room in the US has to provide you any needed medical care - full stop.
- ensignavenger 10y agoInteresting- do you have a source for this? Everything I have found states otherwise- for example- https://www.cga.ct.gov/2003/olrdata/ph/rpt/2003-R-0621.htm https://www.cga.ct.gov/2003/olrdata/ph/rpt/2003-R-0621.htm
- thaeli 10y agoIt's important to understand the difference between "any medical care you want" and "any emergency medical care you need". Emergency is the key word there, and it's generally applied in a fairly common sense way. (When it comes to payment things are far more screwed up in the US, but for "not denying care" it's pretty straightforward.)
- ensignavenger 10y agodjrogers said "hospital emergency room in the US has to provide you any needed medical care - full stop." That is what I was replying to in the immediate parent comment. As to your comment- even if the hospitals definition of emergency is generally 'common sense', it may differ from ones expectations. Further, it seems (I may be wrong) that emergency rooms are given a great deal of leeway especially in edge cases that may not be general, but probably occur more often than one might expect.