I just got back from the ER at Mercy Hospital. My MIL was sick as can be and just admitted a little while ago. What disturbs me about hospital ERs are the people than come in. One woman walked in with 4 kids - ages 7 to 12 or thereabouts - with blankets and pillows for a long stay. She came in around midnight and looked in fair condition except she coughed a little OCCASIONALLY! I really don't think it was an emergency, I may be wrong. It really seemed like an abuse of emergency services as well as what she was putting her children through.
If she doesn't have medical insurance and the ER is her only means of medical attention, I still think it is an abuse of the system. And sad!

That's pretty common, the people with no insurance go to the emergency room to get treatment for any variety of things, 99% aren't an emergency.  Since they don't have insurance and can't pay, they can't get into a regular doctor's office or clinic, the government requires they get treated at an emergency room whether they can pay or not.

so wheres the helthcare soulution

I hate er's.  I wont go unless I am very injured and or about to die.  But I also have insurance and just go to my doctor

ER??  what's that??    

Quoted: ER??  what's that??

Don't tell us your like Rat! That you think the bathroom is the Ejaculation Room!

Quoted: That's pretty common, the people with no insurance go to the emergency room to get treatment for any variety of things, 99% aren't an emergency.  Since they don't have insurance and can't pay, they can't get into a regular doctor's office or clinic, the government requires they get treated at an emergency room whether they can pay or not.

Which is why ERs are shutting down all across the country.......  in a number of cases illegals let an easily treated infection go to the point of "life threatening" to get medical care.  

This is what ER's are for!

Quoted: Quoted: That's pretty common, the people with no insurance go to the emergency room to get treatment for any variety of things, 99% aren't an emergency.  Since they don't have insurance and can't pay, they can't get into a regular doctor's office or clinic, the government requires they get treated at an emergency room whether they can pay or not. Which is why ERs are shutting down all across the country.......  in a number of cases illegals let an easily treated infection go to the point of "life threatening" to get medical care.

I hate to say it but I would say poor americans are to blame for this more then illegals.  For no matter what alot of people feel they can go to the er for any type of minor treatment and not pay a dime.   I understand in emergancies but I have been around all types of people and I have found people with no insurance and no money go to the ER more then anyone and it is ussually for some nonsense thing that I dont even go to the doctor for.  

hell a lot of people abuse the HMO INS. system also, where as a doctors office visit might cost upwards of $20 copay, most HMOs cover ER visits %100, the hospitals give HMOs cut rate prices on stuff but jack up the price on the uninsuired to offset the loss, cause if they can't pay or fail to make payment arrangments, then they sell their bill to a collection agency for half of the bill, then the collection people go after the patients holdings.


MLW>"<

cause if they can't pay or fail to make payment arrangments, then they sell their bill to a collection agency for half of the bill, then the collection people go after the patients holdings.


Can they do this in OK and really get anything .........

They can put a lien* on your real estate if you own any, if you ever want to sell the property the debt has to be settled to release it.

*That may be the wrong term, but the rest of it is correct.

Quoted: They can put a lien* on your real estate if you own any, if you ever want to sell the property the debt has to be settled to release it. *That may be the wrong term, but the rest of it is correct.

To do that, they must get a court judgement. There is a "workman's lien" than can be filed (without a court order) against property which expires after one year but is renewable.
I once got a letter from a credit company telling me they would be glad to help me overcome my mortgage foreclosure. The house was paid for and had been for several years prior to that. All lien releases had been filed so I knew it was a real pile of bull sh*t. The credit company got nervous as hell about it when I called. It seems the OKlahoma County Court Clerk has misfiled a lawsuit against me under home foreclosures. So the Court Clerk misfiled a mortgage foreclosure against me by mistake, caused some credit problems that took quite a while to straighten out.
I have health insurance, met my deductible and limit of out of pocket expenses back in September. I am still getting bills that the health insurance has "denied" and waited almost 4 months to do so. A couple of them are in the $2000 to $3000 range. I'm sure before it's over, I am going to have to visit the Oklahoma County Court Clerk to see if anything has been filed against me. They file, never serve you papers, then when you apply for a loan, you have to pay them to clear your credit to get the loan. A dirty little trick that some collection agencies use.
I just found one the other day from 2001 that was a measly $80 for a service never rendered, that is now $120. And another one from MetroCall when I cancelled a pager I carried. They wanted $50 to cancel the pager when I had given them notice months before I would not renew. They figured any revenue, whether it was justified or not, was worth trying for. So they turned it over to a collection agency which also filed against my credit.
Neither has hurt me because I have too many "on time, never late" on my credit history. It rates over 800 which is pretty good. But it doesn't take much for them to screw you over if you don't watch them.
To make a long story short, the mortgage company I used last year to purchase my new home very seldom takes into account any bad reports concerning medical bills. It seems that a large percentage of wage earners have some type of black mark on their credit history that comes from medical bills.

To make a long story short, the mortgage company I used last year to purchase my new home very seldom takes into account any bad reports concerning medical bills.

Hospital turned me in for collection because the insurance company is putting off paying the bills for the hospital emergency room visit, it's not my insurance so it's a third party claim.  I wrote the collection agency asking them why they expected me to make interest free loans to an insurance company?  I guess I'm going to have to sue the insurance company to get them to pay, they are a bunch of crooks.

The insurance companies will damn sure cause you lots of problems. I'm spending a lot of time dealing with them and will be on the phone probably all next week.
The doc gave me a mild shocker to relieve the pain in my shoulders. The company billed the insurance $2000 which they refused to pay - "no experimental devices". I turned it back into the doc who wrote it off as a "loaner".  So hopefully I'm clear on that. But I'm still looking at $2500 in injection costs for my knees in the last month or so. My insurance "refused" the bills!
I still haven't got it worked out who is going to pay for my knee replacement(s). Because a worker comp claim has been filed, my regular insurance is saying no. Two previous employers are arguing about who is liable even though a court appointed MD has said BOTH knees need replacing NOW.
The bad thing is if you get an attorney to get it moving, you're out the cost of the attorney and it will drag on for a really LONG time.