Originally Posted by
BetCheckBet
Honestly curious but how do hospital visits work in USA if you don’t have insurance? How many hospitalizations right now are uninsured? What happens if they can’t pay off their 100k bill? Do they declare bankruptcy? Lose home? Or are they making special exceptions for covid 19?
Mumbles answered, "Declare bankruptcy", but he's wrong.
First off, with very few exceptions, there's no excuse to be uninsured in this country now. Everyone who is too poor to get it receives a subsidy, sometimes as high as 100%. Master Scalir, for example, has a $0 Obamacare plan. Those without insurance in the US in 2020 are either too lazy to go through the process to get it, budget their money poorly (that is, they make too much to get a subsidy but waste it on other things), or simply choose not to get it. The latter is actually most of the problem. It's hard for some young and middle-aged people to justify spending several hundred dollars per month per family member when "everyone is healthy" and "none of us are old". That's obviously stupid, but that's how it's happening now. The days of failing to qualify for insurance or being unable to afford it are basically over.
With that said, even if you're uninsured, there's a big myth that the hospital comes and takes your house in the event you have a $100k ER bill and you can't or won't pay.
Not true.
Hospitals are incredibly lax when it comes to bill collection. They'll make a few weak attempts to get the money and send some bills, but that's about it. They usually just eat it. This is why ER bills are so high -- you are paying for all the people who stiffed them!
This is also why hospitals are so willing to negotiate the bill with you. This is also why my early March ER visit saw a 20% discount on my $350 co-pay if I "pay now". They're thrilled when they get any definite money out of you.
Why are hospitals stiffed so often? Because the bills tend to be high, and many who visit realize that it would take an eternity to pay, so they just say fuck it. For example, if you're poor and get a $22,000 bill, there's no way you're breaking this into 220 $100 payments. You're just walking away.
There is a decent chance that, when this is all over, the government will cover a lot of these bills anyway, and tell them to forgive any patients who were treated for COVID-19 with unpaid bills.