Considering that Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, and even private payment cover a lot, letting someone die of medical neglect in the lobby because they didn't have an insurance card with them is going a bit far.
@Smokin JoeThe system is screwed. The only times I have been to an emergency room, happened in the last three years. I was taken by ambulance to the emergency room twice, stayed about an hour or hour and a half, each time, and each time the hospital cost was in the many thousands for those brief stays. There is no way the cost should have been that much.
The first time, a car hit us on my side of the car, just in front of my door. After the hit, I couldn't turn my neck due to pain. I stayed still which I had to do anyway, since my door wouldn't open. The ambulance got there, and got my door open. I told him I couldn't turn my neck without severe pain. I also told him I was an EMT. He put a neck brace on me, they got me out and he told the other EMTs, "She is an EMT so she knows the drill." At the hospital, they did an ex-ray of my knee that was bleeding, and an MRI of my neck. The neck wasn't broken, thank God. They did nothing about the bleeding knee that was bleeding on the sheets of their bed. When they let me go, and I got home, I cleaned up my knee. I wore a neck brace for a number of days before that pain left. When I got the bill, I was shocked to see it was many thousands of dollars for one x-ray and one MRI. That was ridiculous. Also, the separate doctor bill was over a thousand.
Two years after that, in the dark, I walked to our mailbox, had my Yorkie in my arms, got the mail, and was walking up our sidewalk and the next instant, I was slammed down on a big rock, the left side of my face slamming down on the rock. I was stunned for a few seconds, realized my skull around my left eye could be broken, and I didn't move. I called for help, and a man walking on the sidewalk came and I had him call 911. The ambulance took me to a trauma hospital (same one I was take to before) due to the likelihood of broken facial/skull fracture. The left side of my face was turning black and my eye was full of blood. An MRI was done and my skull/facial bones were not broken. My Bob got to the hospital, he was not home when this happened, and he said I looked like a devil, with a black face and eye full of blood, with a blue eye in the middle. I thanked him for telling me that.
My eye had a scratch on the cornea. I had to put certain drops in the eye for a number of days and the blackness finally left. Then, I got the bill - many thousands of dollars for that hour and a half in the emergency room and one MRI. That was also ridiculous. Once again, the separate doctor bill was over a thousand.
Bills for medical service have gone out of sight since Obamacare. I had Medicare and supplemental insurance for those two times, so I paid nothing, but others who didn't have such insurance, would have been devastated by having to pay those. Plus, under Obamacare, people have huge deductibles, so they would have had to pay those thousands. Due to the deductibles, people aren't going to the doctor. They have a piece of paper that says they have insurance, but they really don't due to the high deductibles.