Current Events > So if you are poor in America and you break your leg, what happens?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Like do they just not give you care and let you live life on that leg or what
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glue factory
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i guess you could quit your job and apply for medicaid? not sure how much that would help or if that's even viable. i dread stuff like this, every day
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you go to jail

IIRC hospitals are legally required to help you if you have a legit medical emergency. But if you cant pay the bills you're screwed.
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you didn't specify if this poor person had insurance.

So, go to the hospital and use your insurance.
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Im worried about this stuff but everyones crying about racism.
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Take some Robitussin and walk it off
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You get it taken care of but fall in debt because of the medical bills.

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You have to live the rest of your life with a broken leg.

Go to hospital.

Have leg fixed.

Get giant bill.

Don't pay.

Goes to debt collector.

Ignore it.

If they take you to court ask for receipt.

Case is thrown out because they won't have it.

Poor people often have medicaid.

Lyrica posted...

Poor people often have medicaid.

What if they don't tho
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darkphoenix181 posted...

Go to hospital.

Have leg fixed.

Get giant bill.

Don't pay.

Goes to debt collector.

Ignore it.

If they take you to court ask for receipt.

Case is thrown out because they won't have it.

Wrong, you forget get wages garnished, file for bankruptcy.

They'll take care of you at first, then when they find out your a broke boi they tell you to pack your stuff and leave.
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Goats posted...

Lyrica posted...

Poor people often have medicaid.

What if they don't tho

They will treat you but you will get billed and it will be hefty.

Duncanwii posted...

But if you cant pay the bills you're screwed.

Almost. Being obligated to treat someone who can't pay the bill is why an aspirin is $20.

Lyrica posted...

Poor people often have medicaid.

If you're an unemployed male you don't qualify.

Depends on where you live. Some states denied the expansion of Medicaid by ACA. If you're in a conservative state even minimum wage is too high for a single person to be able to qualify for Medicaid.
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That's why you're suppose to have medicaid or insurance.

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CharlesBronson posted...

Wrong, you forget get wages garnished, file for bankruptcy.

Wrong.

https://www.sapling.com/7983400/can-wages-garnished-medical-bills

Health care providers can garnish your wages if you don't pay your medical bills, but they can't do it without a little effort. Only a handful of creditors can take your earnings without first suing you in court, and hospitals and physicians are not among them. They must win the case against you and get a judgment. Then they can use the judgment to garnish your wages.

Now it comes down to, is the hospital suing you or do they sell the debt to a collector.

If it goes to a collector, then what I told you works.

Its tricky but yea you can get it fixed at a safety net hospital if its something thats urgent. If they say, oh it can be done outpatient, doesn't need to be done now, then its up to the surgeon. He doesn't have to offer it, and probably wont because they wont get paid well for it. He'll tell you to go to his clinic. You'll have to pay out of pocket for it and thats impossible, so you'll end up never getting it done. So in the meantime you need rehab....but you cant afford anyone to do rehab. You may get a few days worth in the hospital thats it. You pay be prescribed some pain meds, but your gonna pay cash for it, so it can be expensive. You'll have to pay out of pocket for a wheelchair. You'll be billed the hospital costs until you're completely broke. You'll be paying off those hospital bills for the rest of your life. Meanwhile you've really gotten shitty care for your leg, you'll be in pay for a long time and broke.

M_Live posted...

You can still get billed with insurance. I had a medical emergency, spent a week in the hospital, got surgery, insurance covered most but I still owe the hospital like 7k that I don't have lol

what's your out of pocket maximum?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ekx3xK4qXU" data-time="

you go to the emergency room and they fix it and if youre poor you can get financial assistance on your bills

dont let Liberals convince you america is inhumane
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Simon_Gruber posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ekx3xK4qXU" data-time="

holy shit, thats funny. That was the clip I was looking for but couldnt remember what show it was from, so I settled with a doctored Gary Larson cartoon.

The kicker? JD calls the patient he shoots Mr. Larson. I wonder if thats reference or just coincidence.
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Philoktetes posted...

you go to the emergency room and they fix it and if youre poor you can get financial assistance on your bills

dont let Liberals convince you america is inhumane

Ignore this liar. You're not guaranteed financial assistance.
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Webmaster4531 posted...

Philoktetes posted...

you go to the emergency room and they fix it and if youre poor you can get financial assistance on your bills

dont let Liberals convince you america is inhumane

Ignore this liar. You're not guaranteed financial assistance.

Yeah but theres a chance you might get it, which is good enough!
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also you can just ignore your medical bills
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Philoktetes posted...

also you can just ignore your medical bills

that doesn't seem realistic. Wouldn't it ruin your credit rating?
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M_Live posted...

You can still get billed with insurance. I had a medical emergency, spent a week in the hospital, got surgery, insurance covered most but I still owe the hospital like 7k that I don't have lol

This is exactly why I'm willing to cut costs elsewhere and pay higher premiums for lower deductible, lower max out of pocket pay. If it was just me, I may not have done that. But now that I have a wife and a kid, I feel like I have to. Anything can happen with the kid at any time.

You will go to the hospital. They will do the surgery. Then you will need to pay back the bill in payment plans you can afford. My friend got his gallbladder removed. No insurance. This is what he has to do. Pay back 100 a month for a 13,000 bill.
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lilJoe457 posted...

You will go to the hospital. They will do the surgery. Then you will need to pay back the bill in payment plans you can afford. My friend got his gallbladder removed. No insurance. This is what he has to do. Pay back 100 a month for a 13,000 bill.

So he's fucked for the next decade of his life
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Goats posted...

lilJoe457 posted...

You will go to the hospital. They will do the surgery. Then you will need to pay back the bill in payment plans you can afford. My friend got his gallbladder removed. No insurance. This is what he has to do. Pay back 100 a month for a 13,000 bill.

So he's fucked for the next decade of his life

decade+
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Clearly the answer is to provide free healthcare so that every emergency room in the country is jam packed and people are in there for the dumbest crap while other people die in lines waiting for their turn.
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Goats posted...

lilJoe457 posted...

You will go to the hospital. They will do the surgery. Then you will need to pay back the bill in payment plans you can afford. My friend got his gallbladder removed. No insurance. This is what he has to do. Pay back 100 a month for a 13,000 bill.

So he's fucked for the next decade of his life

if an extra hundred a month fucks you, you need to get more income
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Philoktetes posted...

Goats posted...

lilJoe457 posted...

You will go to the hospital. They will do the surgery. Then you will need to pay back the bill in payment plans you can afford. My friend got his gallbladder removed. No insurance. This is what he has to do. Pay back 100 a month for a 13,000 bill.

So he's fucked for the next decade of his life

if an extra hundred a month fucks you, you need to get more income

Same old "Fuck you, got mine".
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I love how its so easy and possible to just get more income in these peoples minds.
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imagine living in a country where this is even a possibility. lmao
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Shablagoo posted...

I love how its so easy and possible to just get more income in these peoples minds.

They know they're trolling and they know you guys will bite
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Pukelid posted...

Shablagoo posted...

I love how its so easy and possible to just get more income in these peoples minds.

They know they're trolling and they know you guys will bite

But I dont have enough income to afford a conservatroll detector 9000 >.>
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This explains how you don't have to pay collections.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/532/transcript

Ira Glass
Frederick and Keanne tell the lawyer that they're confused. They don't know who this NVLV Funding is or what the debt is. And the lawyer says that his client owns their American Express debt. Basically, when Frederick and Keanne failed to pay of their American Express bill, American Express sold the IOU to this company. And they're trying to collect it.

Jake Halpern
You did have an American Express card, correct? And they say, yeah, we had American Express card. And you do live at-- and he gives their address. Yes. Well, this is what you owe.
And then he reaches into his briefcase and he pulls out this piece of paper, which I'm actually holding in front of me. I brought it along. At first glance, it resembles a credit card statement, like the ones that we get every month that says what you owe.
But then, at the top, and you look and-- it says at the very top of it, this is an account summary. It is not a credit card statement from the original creditor and has not previously been provided to the consumer. So it-- it's really bizarre right off the start because they're handing this thing that's clearly been set up to resemble a credit card statement, and yet there it says right at the top, but this is not actually a credit card statement.

So Frederick asked the guy if he has anything else to help them make sense of this number. Does he have the original contract from when they took out the credit card to prove that, in fact, his client does actually own the debt now and it's all legit?
The lawyer says he doesn't need to provide any of that. The debt is real, they have to pay. And then Jake pipes up. For his reporting, he's wondering does the lawyer actually have any of that stuff, the original signed contract, or account statements.

And so far, as you see, so far, right, the lawyer is playing hardball. He is not messing around, which makes what happens next even more interesting. The judge turns to the lawyer, and the judge says to the lawyer, so what do you want to do about this debt.
Jake Halpern
And the lawyer then says to the judge, you know what, give me a minute. I need to consult with my client. So he walks out of the courtroom. Me and Keanne and the judge are kind of left in the courtroom. And the lawyer goes out into the hallway, and then comes back like two minutes later, and says, Your Honor, we're going to be dropping this, dismissing the case.

Show me the evidence. In other words, show me where you got this number $3,762.20. The Georgia Legal Services lawyer told Jake that if you're standing before a judge, and you say, OK, I don't recognize this amount that you say I owe and I want to see some documentation, I want to see account statements or whatever, because I have no way to know with certainty that this debt is really mine, the judge will usually turn to the other side and ask for the evidence. And, in all likelihood, they'll have no documentation and they'll drop the case.
And this is true not just in Georgia, but elsewhere. Because the way this business works, Jake says

When debt is sold, proof of debt is not sold with it.
Ofc, if the hospital itself sues you, it is different.
If a collection agency does, they hoping you gullible.

If you are poor get medicaid.

If you don't bother getting medicaid or aren't eligible (poor isn't really defined here), you go to the hospital get it fixed. When the bill comes say you can't pay it. You will get delinquent notices, and eventually offered some type of payment plan... I've seen cases of people paying $5 a month. If you can't pay that or it's not offered you will get sent to collections. Once in collections if you fail to pay up eventually you will be sent to a bad debt collector, who may again try to setting with a lower amount or payment plan.

At some point any of these stages could attempt to take you to court for an additional expense, not very likely since they may not be willing to put additional money into legal fees when they know you aren't paying already.

Eventually it may get written off.

Yes your credit will fall, if you are truly poor your credit is probably already trash though.

You won't be denied treatment though. Bad debt does drive up healthcare costs at the end of the day though.
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darkphoenix181 posted...

This explains how you don't have to pay collections.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/532/transcript

Ira Glass
Frederick and Keanne tell the lawyer that they're confused. They don't know who this NVLV Funding is or what the debt is. And the lawyer says that his client owns their American Express debt. Basically, when Frederick and Keanne failed to pay of their American Express bill, American Express sold the IOU to this company. And they're trying to collect it.

Jake Halpern
You did have an American Express card, correct? And they say, yeah, we had American Express card. And you do live at-- and he gives their address. Yes. Well, this is what you owe.
And then he reaches into his briefcase and he pulls out this piece of paper, which I'm actually holding in front of me. I brought it along. At first glance, it resembles a credit card statement, like the ones that we get every month that says what you owe.
But then, at the top, and you look and-- it says at the very top of it, this is an account summary. It is not a credit card statement from the original creditor and has not previously been provided to the consumer. So it-- it's really bizarre right off the start because they're handing this thing that's clearly been set up to resemble a credit card statement, and yet there it says right at the top, but this is not actually a credit card statement.

So Frederick asked the guy if he has anything else to help them make sense of this number. Does he have the original contract from when they took out the credit card to prove that, in fact, his client does actually own the debt now and it's all legit?
The lawyer says he doesn't need to provide any of that. The debt is real, they have to pay. And then Jake pipes up. For his reporting, he's wondering does the lawyer actually have any of that stuff, the original signed contract, or account statements.

And so far, as you see, so far, right, the lawyer is playing hardball. He is not messing around, which makes what happens next even more interesting. The judge turns to the lawyer, and the judge says to the lawyer, so what do you want to do about this debt.
Jake Halpern
And the lawyer then says to the judge, you know what, give me a minute. I need to consult with my client. So he walks out of the courtroom. Me and Keanne and the judge are kind of left in the courtroom. And the lawyer goes out into the hallway, and then comes back like two minutes later, and says, Your Honor, we're going to be dropping this, dismissing the case.

Show me the evidence. In other words, show me where you got this number $3,762.20. The Georgia Legal Services lawyer told Jake that if you're standing before a judge, and you say, OK, I don't recognize this amount that you say I owe and I want to see some documentation, I want to see account statements or whatever, because I have no way to know with certainty that this debt is really mine, the judge will usually turn to the other side and ask for the evidence. And, in all likelihood, they'll have no documentation and they'll drop the case.
And this is true not just in Georgia, but elsewhere. Because the way this business works, Jake says

When debt is sold, proof of debt is not sold with it.
Ofc, if the hospital itself sues you, it is different.
If a collection agency does, they hoping you gullible.

You're really hoping no one actually reads that. There's many amateur debt collectors trying to get into the scummy business so I don't doubt this happens but it doesn't prove that debt collectors never get proof with the debt they buy.
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darkphoenix181 posted...

Go to hospital.

Have leg fixed.

Get giant bill.

Don't pay.

Goes to debt collector.

Ignore it.

If they take you to court ask for receipt.

Case is thrown out because they won't have it.

This. My brother in law got into a fight and was stabbed 11 times. He had an $80k bill he just never paid.

Should say you identify as a comedian at which point they will provide all services free of charge for fear of being accused of censorship
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