How do Americans pay their Hospital bills if they have absolutley no money?

I was just wondering because over here in the UK we have free health services.
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Please don't dodge my question. I asked How to Americans pay the bill they receive after treatment. Dear me.. And I'm not a tax payer so it IS free for me. Mwahahaha.

If they have absolutely NO money, they don't get them paid. I'm currently seeking employment, and I have about $1,000 worth of medical bills that haven't been paid. And they're not likely to get paid any time in the near future, either.

debt. credit cards. or we don't pay and get sued. if your an illegal alien in the US, your health care is free. paid for by the tax payers that are legal and work

many times people use their entire life savings, many times people go bankrupt trying to pay for medical care (medical emergencies account for a large fraction of bankruptcies in the US); many times people make the deicision to forego health care because of its cost...

Few things in life are free. Health-care is one of them. You pay tons of taxes to fund that "free health services". But, on to your question: If they have no money they do not pay their hospital bills. I work in a hospital, and the amount we give away is astounding. Hospitals are labeled as these huge, greedy orges. In actuality, most hospitals will treat you even when they know they will not get paid. If you come to the emergency room and are in danger of dying they have to treat you. They must at least stabilize you long enough to transfer you to a hospital for the indigent. Sounds kind of mean until you realize that it is up to you to take care of you. We do not need national health-care in the US. Unless, everyone wants their taxes to jump 15-20% for worse care than they are getting now. In the US health-care is a privilege you pay for-not a right you are born into.

They would pay it in pieces. If they don't pay at all, physicians have insurance which pays them. Then the insurance goes after the non-payers.

You DO NOT have FREE health care, the money comes from taxes that are collected by your government. Do YOU actually believe that hospitals and doctor out there are working for free?????
As for those in USA that don't have insurance, well there are numerous ways it's paid for (government programs) but in the long run it all comes from the "tax payer", just like in your Country.

1 - We don't.
2 - We give fake contact information
3 - We watch the movie "Sicko" and go to Canada where we pretend we have a "Common Law" marriage with a Canadian, and get free care.

they don't - which puts the hospitals in the red

Can I ask how many people die in your "free" health care system waiting for treatment? Can I ask why people of means who have serious medical issues leave your "free" health care system to come here? The health care system works much better here than the liberal media and liberal politicians would have you believe which is why so many truly ill people get medical attention in our country.

Well, hopefully you have health insurance that pays 80% and you are liable for 20%....but even then it may not pay for everything!

Yes...it is a problem! Some people have gone into debt if they had a serious accident and/or medical problem that required them to be in the hospital a long time. Really, some poeple have to go to a lawyer to get it all figured out...which, of course, costs more money.

It's a huge problem!

I went into debt... struck a deal with a collection agency to pay bits and pieces over time. Luckily for me, i came into a bit of money and was able to pay if off sooner. Most hospitals are sympathetic to the fact most people are broke and will take some off the bill. If you pay it all at once, they will take as much as 50% off. Say you want to stretch it out over 3 months - they might take off 30%. The longer you stretch it out, the less of a break they will give you.

I know at the hospital level, America has, in a sense, socialized medicine.

For an American hospital to be accredited, they must treat all patients the same regardless of income.

I know many might object that this doesn't actually happen. But doctors are an idealistic group who have no financial incentive to limit care.

Hospitals can receive some aid back from low income patients via Medicaid.

Outside of hospitals, the picture looks more bleak.

You don't have "free" health care, my dear. You are paying and your system is in trouble even with the rationing:
"â€œStaff are being laid off, and deficits are at an all time high (Â£1.07bn for 2005-2006)â€ (Hazel Blears, Labour Party Chair and Minister Without Portfolio, labourachievements.blogspot.com/2006/08/...
In the National Review Online article, Coburn & Herzlinger state â€œmore than 20,000 Brits would not have died from cancer in the U.S.â€ Just recently Alex Smallwood of the BMA (British Medical Association) was quoted in the Scotsman as saying: â€œâ€™Rationing is reduction in choice. Rationing has become a necessary evil. We need to formalise rationing to prevent an unregulated, widening, postcode-lottery of care. Government no longer has a choice.â€™â€ (Moss, â€œNHS rationing is â€˜necessary evil,â€™ says doctors,â€ 26 June 2007).

For Americans who really have no money, they use Medicaid, which means the taxpayer pays for them.

However, it's the working poor with no insurance who are most vulnerable. Many are driven into bankruptcy. Others have to pay over enough to qualify for Medicaid (taxpayers take the hit again). Some are locked into other problems from predatory lenders, see http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2007/db20071120_397008.htm

It's not just about hospital bills, doctor bills can be outrageous as well, but doctors tend not to be as predatory and unrelenting as our "non profit" hospitals.

Well, in the United States we have some free health care too. We have medi-care, free care for the elderly population. We have the VA system, free heath care for veterans of the military. In my state, we have a free system for poor people called free care that will give you full medical insurance, a lot of other states have similar programs. A lot of self-employed people I know under report their income and get free care. One time I went to a guy's house, nice house, Mercedes, BMW, Range Rover in drive way. The Feds claimed he owed them millions in unpaid taxes. He came down with a serious illness that required hundreds of thousand of dollars worth of treatment. I asked him what do you do for health insurance. He said I get free care. There are a lot of other govt programs that some people learn to exploit, example, they get their kids to act retarded and get disbility payments for the kids every month. US emergency rooms are required to see people, some people get free health care this way. I view all government employees, including the President, that have health insurance as getting free coverage courtesy of the tax payer. Illegal immigrants are good at exploiting weaknesses in the US system and are able to get free medical, education, etc. The people that get screwed are the middle class that actually pay their taxes.
The US system is stupid. They should just give everyone Universal Coverage. It is a scam by the ultra-rich that all US citizens do not get coverage, it is inhumane. I am suprised the special interest groups have been able to get the government to keep our current system for so long.
Warren Buffet the second or third richest man in the United States said if Martians landed and the moon and watched the US they would not understand why we do not have universal coverage. I know that free care costs money, it is not free, and I do not think anyone would make that argument. I would much rather we spend the 2 Billion a week we spend in Iraq on medical and dental care for US citizens than on the war. Bush's tax cuts, eliminating estate taxes, etc. gave people worth multi-millions billions in tax cuts was irresponsible and it benefited the ultra-rich needlessly. Warren Buffet talked about the Bush tax cuts, which he was opposed to. He said my secretary gets an extra 200 hundred dollars but I get an extra 200,000,000 with these tax cuts. He also said if there is class warfare in the US, certainly my classs is winning. Dollar for dollar the US spends the most for health care and receives the least. Two areas where the system could be improved if we had universal coverage. Eliminatng HMOs, PPO's and their ilk. Too much money gets diverted to CEOs and other corporate shareholders in terms of profit. In a universal health care system the profit corporations make could be put back into providing care. Also, HMOs and PPOs are evil they are always trying to skimp and cost cut. I am all for efficiency but I do not want to find my life saving procedure is a non-covered item on my insurance. If HMOs and PPOs could get away with it they would have people with guns that would shoot people that needed expensive treatment, now that would be efficiency Republican style. Another area to save money is by having one agency control health care dollars. If one agency had a monopoly they could pretty much dictate how much doctors and dentists could charge. A big driver of health insurance that no one talks about is US doctor salaries. Currently doctors are out of control in how much they charge. The US system sucks. I luckily do not see a doctor much. However, I had a car crash last year so I had to go see some docs. I was in the ER for 20 minutes. I saw a doctor for maybe 5 minutes. No X-Rays or anything else. The combined bill of the doctor and hospital was over $1,000, that is robbery. Then I do follow up with a spine doctor the guy has an assembly line of patients. He spends maybe two minutes with me at each visit. When I had questions this joker was starting to walk out of the room. He provided like 0 benefit to me. I felt like he just wanted to glance at me and leave the room so he could bill my insurance for a visit. One time I was in a lot of pain so I called him after 5 pm to his aswering service. He was so pissed that he had to call me back. This is the current US system with insurance under managed care, really lame. I remeber when I was a kid pre-HMOs and PPOs it was not like this. If you were sick you would go and be taken care of. Now it is the relentless machine trying to figure out how to control costs by decreasing care and denying coverage. I imagine if I was worth $100 million I could buy a quality of medical care that the rich could only afford. I would have two or three doctors giving manicures at the same time. The President has a doctor that accompany him on all trips. Who but the special few have this type of access to care in the US, it is unjust. I view people that are against Universal Coverage as disgusting.

If you have a full time job it usually comes with medical insurance.

It varies from job to job, but we have "group medical insruance" There are a couple of big "brands" that companies with at least 20-50 employees can buy from.

Your company pays most of your monthly premiums and the employee typically pays 20-100 bucks a month. It is good business because the employee won't be at work producing if they get sick...

So if you have insurance, most people have "managed health" plans, aka HMO. The HMO has a deal with certain clinics and hospitals, this makes them "in plan". Your insurance usually covers a better % for "in plan" then for others that are "out of network".

Ie. I have a small $10 co-pay for a Doctor office visit. I can go to a different doctor but it might be more like $50.

Hospital stays are usually covered 80% for most major stuff.

If you don't have insurance, you get credit to cover the debt and pay off in installments.

if you are totally poor you can get "medicade" it is gov insurance for the poor.

The US system seems complex and obviously a hot topic due to the emotional issues associated with health. Universal coverage with options to supplement or pay total health care coverage seems to work for most in Aust. There are always the scammers and then the innocent victims of loop holes. I personally do not mind paying a little extra tax to support national health care. I feel comfort in knowing that my countrymen are being cared for and can take comfort that they are not alone. I am a middle income earner and pay all tax without escaping my fair share. That is up to the individuals conscience. My experience of health care being married to a nurse for 26 yrs is that people working in hospitals ( most doctors and especially nurses) have some unidentifiable need to to care for people. Unfortunately there are health care professionals who overcharge and are not well suited to offer bedside comfort. Our universities are now interviewing medical students to ascertain their suitabilty in addition to their academic ability to assess enrolment applications. I hope a sensible and emotionally sensitive debate continues to take place in the USA that involves all residents. It is sad to hear that many people are not getting adequate health care when the USA provides so much support to countries abroad.

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