I've never heard that...doubt I ever will....and many of the people I bring are only going to have half their bill paid and that half will be coming out of my taxes (cruelly ironic I've always thought....my taxes go to pay me...if only I were on welfare)
Every hospital ED I've ever been in has a huge sign saying you will not be denied emergency care based on your ability to pay. Ambulances don't have the sign, but operate the same way be they private or town/county/state run.
Nice try at the emotional heart-strings, but sorry, there aren't old ladies running down the street spurting blood everywhere because the ambulance or hospital won't treat them.
I'm afraid there are. And anyone who has been a Paramedic or an EMT for a decent amount of time in the parts of America that have absolutely been annihilated by the last few years (like Michigan) has heard that line, and seen those people.
For instance, just last night. Called to an elderly man who tripped, fell in his house, cut his head on a door hinge. We got there, and he was sitting in the bathroom, drenched in blood. He was trying to clean it up, but his face was covered, and he was still actively bleeding. And as we were in there, asking him questions, examining the injury, and trying to help him clean it, he said that exact line. He was a veteran of many years, and did not have any health insurance. We tried to tell him the same thing you just said, although everyone knew deep down that there's still a hefty cost. You can get away with not paying for an ambulance ride, because they wont come after you, but a hospital will. You always have to pay something. And there have been many, many cases where hospitals have given purposely poor care to individuals without insurance. It's just reality. Anyway, we eventually got the man to agree to go to the VA. The catch? We can't take him. So we had to go through an entire process of calling relatives in an attempt to find someone who would take him to the VA. We eventually did. Unfortunately, he's still going to get a bill for the bandages and dressing used to stop the bleeding.
Point is, people in this country shouldn't even have to THINK about the idea that they don't have insurance/what are they going to do? It shouldn't even come up. Why? Because free health care should be a right to every citizen of this country.
I am never going to support someone who believes everyone can fend for themselves. Those people are so detached from 99% of Americans that they're a danger. I am not in the wealthiest 1%, and as such, I have to support a candidate that realizes most Americans are struggling right now and need help from the government.
