Unemployed, uninsured: medical help for 60+

[heckynoodle]

Originally Posted by PhxBarb

Kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it? Why are we legally required to treat these people? If they can come in for free care, even when they have commited a crime, got shot during it, and/or harmed someone else, does this 1986 Emergency Medical baloney still make sense? I think, if you are here illegally, you have NO right to anything. Not a job, not food stamps, not child care, not a drivers license, and certainly not free medical care. But I know. This is not the American Way.

Human beings deserve health care.

I would rather the person who washes my salad in a restaurant have access to medical care, especially preventative care. Its a basic human right.

If I hadnt had access to no copay health care, instead of going to my doctor, i would have gone to my job that day - a busy national chain hair salon with 34 female stylists and hundreds of mostly female clients on a super busy Friday. As it happened, my doctor told me to go straight home and get in bed. I had German Measles!
Can you imagine the heartache I would have caused to some client in her first trimester of pregnancy if I had gone to work? The odds were good that there was at least one pregnant female in the salon. And if by a miracle there was not, then someone would have caught german measles from me and exposed someone else at home, school, church, etc. If the baby/babies lived, they would have spent their lives handicapped, and for those who care more about the cost than a human life, im sure it would have cost the govt millions for disability for those kids.

If I had to pay the doctor, even $5 copay I would not have gone to the doctor that day. I was making $8000 a year (full-time) and raising kids alone. I could not afford to lose a day of work.


Also, I agree with the person who said unpaid hospital bills go to collections, and your credit gets screwed.

I just know its a lot simpler and a lot cheaper to just let anyone who needs to be treated by a doctor or nurse to be able to do so and not have all the anxiety and stress about it.

When I was a kid there was no such thing as health insurance companies. The doctor came to our house and my mom paid him directly. Its not that long ago. These enormous costs and huge companies are a recent thing. An elderly friend said she paid her doctor with a bale of hay (for a birthing fee). Sounds good to me!