NZminilops wrote:
Do you not have general practitioner (doctor) clinics there? You can only go see the ER if you ever need help from a doctor? That sounds terrible
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Here the ER would only be for if you need to be rushed off in an ambulance from having a heart attack etc.
In the US, we have general practioner clinics, but they're pretty much too expensive to go to unless you have insurance. Even with insurance, there's a co-pay, mine is $30 just to walk in. If my doctor has to do any tests, my insurance only pays 80% of that, until I hit my deductible (which I have to pay), which is $500. If you don't have insurance, some places won't see you at all, others will charge full price for everything, which can make it really expensive to walk in the door.
When I get my statements from my ins. company, I have seen some regular exams being billed at a few hundred dollars, not including testing or medications.
Because a lot of people don't have insurance, and either can't afford to even walk in to a regular doctor's office, or won't even be seen, many people go to the emergency room of a hospital to get treatment. There is a law that the emergency room can't refuse treatment if you can't pay. There is sometime such a long wait, though, that people with more minor things often end up leaving after waiting for many hours. True emergencies (heart attack, severed limb) and children take precedent over, say, someone with the flu. Most hospitals here are for-profit organizations, so they don't like seeing people who don't have insurance and can't pay. (An unpaid bill is a $$ loss for the hospital.) So while they won't outright turn you away, and if you wait long enough you will get seen, you're not first on the list if you don't have insurance and aren't critical.
I am glad that in Kansas there are county health clinics that will provide care to people with no insurance, though I know a lot of people who don't want to go there or don't know it's available. It is cheaper than going to the ER. (Even with my insurance, it costs me $500 just to walk into the ER.) I know that if I lose my job, I can register there for regular care at a lower rate. They don't cover everything, but it's better than nothing.
