What If Everyone Just Drops Their Health Insurance And Goes To Emergeny Rooms For Treatment?.......

I'm very close to making that decision for myself. Blue Cross/Blue Shield just raised my premium again. I'm now having to pay over double what I paid in 2006. I'm at over $12,000 per year and I was at $6,000 in 2006.

Set them up in public parks.

Same here, Global1.

The only reason we don't drop it is fear of no treatment in case of accidents, heart attacks or cancer. The Democratic congress sold us out to big insurance it looks like. I fear what's next.

insurance industry. For all that rhetoric during the campaign about how we needed healthcare reform and to change his aggressiveness towards the industry is certainly a let down for those of us that voted for him.He does not know how to handle a Democratic Majority and he is acting much more like a Republican than a Democrat..As it stands right now ..and after seeing how he handled this healthcare issue I will not vote for him again.. No I will not or would never vote for a Republican but Obama is out of his league, and I will support a true progressive candidate if there is such.

It that just for you or your whole family? What state do you live in? That's what we pay for our family of four. We were paying 24,000/year and had to change insurance companies and take lesser coverage in order to keep some insurance for our family.
What are you going to do?

I have my own business and this is the best I can do. This is with a $3,000 deductible to boot. I live in Illinois. It is getting harder and harder to make the payment every two months. They are killing me - literally. I'm afraid to use it for just common ailments because I fear if I ever need to use it for something real serious - they'll claim - pre-existing condition. So I'm not even getting basic medical care - out of that fear. You would think that an insurance company would demand that a person get a regular check-up - to catch problems early. Instead - they force you into a situation to go seek medical attention only when something is real serious - then it is costly for all involved. Then they either look for an out - like a pre-existing condition or they just deny.

So bottom line with the $12,000 premium and $3,000 deductible - they are in to me for $15,000 before they even have to pay out dollar one. I'm 61 y/o. They know if 4 years that I'll be transitioning over to Medicare. Any health care reform will not affect me. They got me by the balls. They know that I'll be paying them $60,000 over the next 4 years - then they're done with me.

Fortunately (knock on wood)I've been relatively healthy. But I'm at my wits end now. But I really feel sorry for the people that have serious medical issues. They are really struggling.

Paying up the credit card and insurance companies, keeping them flush with cash to buy all your favorite/local politicians, etc., and then wondering why nothing ever really changes isn't going to work...

Then the fun really starts.

I have, it's horrific. Now, imagine how horrific it would be if everyone were relying on it for their primary care.

Dropping health insurance if you cannot afford it is understandable, and often sadly unavoidable. But choosing that method as a way to prove a point isn't a solution.

I pay out of pocket for my health care and spend way less than what you're paying per year. Our system is so screwed up.

Emergency rooms aren't free. In fact, they cost much more than traditional medical treatment.

If you can't pay, they turn you over to collection agencies who hound you night and day. They try to garnish wages or do whatever they have to do. It's not pretty.

Republicans act like going to the emergency room is the answer. It isn't. They still expect you to pay.

and has no worries at all now while I pay hundreds a month and still can't get things done.

calling the police, or a hospital filing charges for somebody who gave a false name in ER.

never.

in 20+ of law enforcement.

some people do this. give a fake name to the ER people.

Mr Pip is on some powerful painkillers for his knees. He had to show ID at CVS before they would release the prescription to him.

an ER will not (ime) call the police, even if they suspect you are giving a false name. the money doesn't come out of their pockets, and they really do feel their job is to treat people. it's also the kind of press they don't want to deal with.

but if they write you a script and you try to get a script under a phony name, you can bet dollars to doughnuts the pharmacy will call the cops for script fraud. THAT is a given, especially if the script is for a controlled substance (vs. a plain Rx like penicillin, which nobody cares about).

but (i am NOT recommending this. it's illegal) it's a not uncommon practice, for people to use ER's under assumed names, so they never get billed.

encouraged by doctors who have short office hours and too many patients. I have been told by more than one doctor to take a sick relative to the emergency room. That's the only way to get rapid medical attention around here.

what an a$$!!!!

Their only obligation is to provide a screening exam and provide care needed to stabilize or treat an emergency condition. They are not obligated, and will generally not, provide you with any followup care, including meds, labs, tests, doctor's appointments, etc, etc.

If you present with a condition not deemed to be an emergency following the screening exam, they will tell you what you need but there is nowhere you will be able to obtain it.

In addition, the law in no way prohibits them from billing you for whatever they provide. And the rates used to bill you are about three times higher than those generally provided to the insurance companies.

While I understand your frustration and find it disgraceful that you find yourself in this position, the solution you propose will not provide you with most of what you or your family might need.

I was only saying - what would they do - if everyone just dropped their health insurance in the form of a protest?

If serious and strong health reform doesn't make it through this Congress now - it never will. Then it will be time for a revolution by the people. What a better way to make a statement - but I know that it will never happen.

We have it sooooo good here in America - don't we?

Insurance companies probably wouldn't care because yeh, you'd go to the ER and say you're diagnosed with cancer...then what? ER isn't going to give you chemotherapy. ER isn't going to do repeat MRI's. ER isn't going to do weekly blood level checks.

You have uncontrolled blood pressure, the ER isn't going to have regular follow ups to check whether your medication is working

ER isn't going to do regular blood tests to see if your blood thinner is at an appropriate dose

ER isn't going to modify your insulin regimen

In the end, you're going to get LESS care via the ER because the ER isn't a preventative care clinic, or a well-visit clinic. It does not have the ability to "do" the things you get done in a clinic or dr's office.

that might have a real impact?".

That's why the PO is so important, IMO, as a first step. If we all had the public option, we would have a huge impact by choosing it. But most people are stuck with the option you are facing - continue to pay increasingly impossible rates for increasingly less coverage and care.

It is really hard to act as a bloc when you have no realistic choices.

:grr:

There are walk-in clinics that are more cost effective.

good luck getting a sniffle looked at for under a grand.

and then if you don't pay it (and you actually have a phone and an address), they'll make your life a living hell until you pay or declare bankruptcy.

not a viable alternative.

single payer now.

We already have enough people who use the ER as a primary care because they legitimately have no access to preventative care. However, that's not the function of an emergency room. WE don't have the ability to follow up 2 weeks after your antiibotics to see if your sinus infection has cleared up. We don't do screenings to see if you need BP or cholesterol medications.

We have enough people who DO have insurance but don't want to wait until Monday to see their doctor about a cold, or an ear infection, or a stubbed toe. They're happy to pay the $75 or $200 copay (depending on their insurance) for non-emergency medical care. All the while, taking up a bed that could be used for the 56 year old with NSTEMI (heart attack).

I work in the ER. Easily 70% of the people I care for on any given night could be seen just as easily in a walk-in clinic, or at their MD's office the next day. But they don't want to wait til tomorrow (this is only speaking about the people who DO HAVE INSURANCE). They want antibiotics NOW. They want an ace bandage NOW.

It's gotten so bad that our hospital now will have the MD come in, and if the reason you're there isn't life threatning, or a true EMERGENCY, they will send you on your way. THIS IS ONLY FOR PEOPLE WITH INSURANCE> Those without insurance are still seen, but they have to wait a long time---not because they don't have insurance, but because an ear infection or sinus infection kind of takes a back seat to stroke, or internal bleeding, or heart attack.

People get pissed off that they have to wait 2 hours to see a doctor---sorry, the doctor is generally busy saving people's lives. So are the nurses. A stroke patient will always take precidence over someone who got drunk and played a fool and cut their leg open and now needs stitches. Or someone who ran out of pain meds and now has back pain. Yeah, I know you're in pain but you're not DYING.

So by doing what you're suggesting the overcrowded, understaffed, underfunded ER's will be more overcrowded, more understaffed, more underfunded. That 2 hour wait everyone bitches about will now be 6+ hours.

Even as a nurse, my health insurance sucks. My husband is an ER nurse at another hospital and his Ins. sucks, too. But I reall yhave to ask people to use the emergency room for what it was intended for---emergencies. I have more sympathy for people without insurance who use it for more routine things, but no sympathy for people with insurance who see the ER as their personal, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and even holidays personal PCP.

Wow, THAT would be interesting. Insurance companies would be out of business and since hospitals cannot legally turn anyone away, they'd all go broke and have to get bailed out by government money....hmm, sounds a lot like a single-payer system!

This a revolutionary idea!

to the ER if you have to. I'm really thinking that we need to start building free clinics in our communities that take every one. The one in San Fransisco in Haight Ashbury is still there from the sixties. You can get free yearly physicals including pap smears and other lab tests besides critical care. All they ask is that you donate whatever you can afford to pay. This might be an answer to give us an option if we decide to be active and starve the beast by canceling our insurance. That way there is something to fall back on for anyone who wants to cancel their insurance. Do you have anything like that close by? I know we have community health services for the poor in my community and they take Medicaid patients and charge every one else on a sliding scale. The downside is those long waits in the waiting room and not seeing a doctor of your choice but the one that's there. I think it beats not having any health care though. I'm thinking of going to them for dental care because my dentist is getting too costly and I'm on a fixed income.

simply stop paying any premiums. Not everybody who has ins. uses it you know. The problem is the majority of Americans have ins. through their employer so they CAN'T stop paying the bill. I don't know what that % is though. Even if the independantly insured stopped paying their promiums, it sure would make the news! Simce we can't seem to even get many people to go out and demonstrate, I doubt we'd ever be able to get the cooperation of enough people to make a difference though.

so- unless you're completely indigent, and have no property to lose- it's not a very good idea.

rationalized. . . . You're on to something. Everyone who wants either PO or SP should withdraw from insurance coverage, en masse.

;)

Then anything done is extra. about 7 years ago my wife tripped and broke two bones in her hand . WE went to the clinic and they said go to emergency and then I called my primary care and she told me if I broke my hand I would have to go to emergency . We ended up at the county Hospital because she was on medical . We were first told to see a hand surgen but every one I called had a three week wait , this could not wait three weeks.

Before that we went to emergency and I paid an amount before seeing anyone then got a bill for the rest and could not pay so it wnet to collections and we finally paid in installments other wise it would never go away and ruin credit or garnish my pay because it was me in the 90 day employment wait period before you can get insurance through the job.

Now we have no insurance and she is on medical but that has changed a lot, something happens to me and I'm screwed.

Everytime there was an emergency it was always somehow on a weekend and to cover emergency with ins you are required to contact your provider for an approval , they really make it difficult.

diabetes, etc.

As far as I know they don't give out insulin for free in the ER.

They also don't do elective surgery, which on the surface seems elective, but is actually necessary for quality of life (such as the knee replacement surgery Mr P will be getting next week)

People with anxiety disorders can maybe get a few pills in the ER but are generally told to contact their own physicians for a prescription.

Don't get me wrong...the system sucks. But if people give false names as some have suggested, that means the hospitals have to eat the costs and then pass the loss on to their patients, which adds to the misery for everyone.

I don't know what the answer is, honestly, but I'm not sure the best answer is to flood the already crowded ER with people who intentionally dropped their insurance.

As will happen if there is no reform and the "drop health insurance and go to ER" approach becomes increasingly involuntary in the population.

Ugh! I use it a lot now that I have a toddler. It is nice to pay a $25 co-pay, but we pay out the ass a month for that co-pay.

My elderly mother fell in the back yard and hurt her hand. It swelled up and looked badly bruised. She thought she might have broken it so I took her to an emergency room (this was on a Saturday). I filled out the questionnaire for her with her name, address, and description of medical problem and we sat down. We waited two hours or more. There was a woman in the waiting room with a badly injured leg and she must have been in shock, as she was shivering and screaming for a blanket. The ER people ignored her. After waiting over two hours with no sign of being called in, my mother had had enough and we left. No one saw her, no one did a diagnosis, no one gave her so much as an aspirin tablet. One month later, we got a letter from Tricare indicating they were refusing the $287 that the ER had billed them. I spoke to Tricare and they said the billing did not state any medical problem or diagnosis; it merely was a bill of $287 for administrative costs (whatever that means). I'd like to know how the ER could charge $287 for simply reading a one-page questionnaire (if they even did that).