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Ok so dumb question I always wanted to ask, about the arbitrary prices. Let's say I have no insurance and I collapse on the street, get rushed to the hospital a
by sershe 7y ago
Ok so dumb question I always wanted to ask, about the arbitrary prices. Let's say I have no insurance and I collapse on the street, get rushed to the hospital and revived, after which they send me a bill for $10k. I didn't agree to any treatment; I didn't sign anything. What prevents me from saying that I won't pay it - not in "you can send it to collections" way, but in a "this is a fraudulent bill" way, like I don't owe anything at all? If the hospital can claim by fiat the price was $10k after the fact, how come I cannot claim by fiat the price was $100, or send the hospital a counter-bill for $9900 for having had the privilege of touching my chest? I mean, a car dealership cannot send me a bill after the fact for an extra $10k for driving off the lot?
(Semi-)serious question, actually. What would they do? There's no contract.
Even if I did sign something in an emergency, I may be able to claim to not have been capable enough to reason about it, due to shock/mental issues given the emergency.
- DaiPlusPlus 7y agoA bunch of articles I read about receiving unwanted medical care while being unable to consent (e.g. while unconscious, or involuntarily committed when the person was actually sane) advise readers to get a lawyer to have them drop the bill. Oddly, I can’t find any reports by people reporting success or failure doing that. Of course that’s different to your proposed situation - but if you were indigent then Medicaid would be billed.
- speedplane 7y ago> Ok so dumb question I always wanted to ask, about the arbitrary prices. Let's say I have no insurance and I collapse on the street, get rushed to the hospital and revived, after which they send me a bill for $10k. I didn't agree to any treatment; I didn't sign anything. What prevents me from saying that I won't pay it - not in "you can send it to collections" way, but in a "this is a fraudulent bill" way, like I don't owe anything at all? Not a dumb question. If you don't have insurance, you can make such claim, and very likely you'll never have to pay. If you do have insurance, it's very likely that your insurance has pre-existing contracts with the hospital. Even though the hospital can't force you to do anything, it's likely that they can force the insurance to pay.