Re:An American Doctor Experiences the NHS Again
by rdtsc on Sunday August 21, 2016 @02:19PM
(#12332022)
They will take you but then send you a bill.
As a first time visitor to this country many years ago I went an clinic because I had severe strep throat. Waited 1 hour, then some intern saw me for 5 minutes. Gave me a codeine pill and later sent me a bill for $400. That was 1990's $400 dolars, and I had a stipend of only $200 month as a student.
That right there is fucked up. Actually, I would rather they just turned me a way -- "Sorry bud, this will be more than you can afford".
I know what people will say "Oh you don't have to pay, declare bankruptcy or call and haggle with the hospital". But you know where you haggle with the hospital -- in a 3rd world country when you are bribing the doctors to not kill you. You haggle there as well, and you also have to haggle here to get he "special, I can't pay" rate.
As a first time visitor to this country many years ago I went an clinic because I had severe strep throat. Waited 1 hour, then some intern saw me for 5 minutes. Gave me a codeine pill and later sent me a bill for $400. That was 1990's $400 dolars, and I had a stipend of only $200 month as a student.
That right there is fucked up. Actually, I would rather they just turned me a way -- "Sorry bud, this will be more than you can afford".
I know what people will say "Oh you don't have to pay, declare bankruptcy or call and haggle with the hospital". But you know where you haggle with the hospital -- in a 3rd world country when you are bribing the doctors to not kill you. You haggle there as well, and you also have to haggle here to get he "special, I can't pay" rate.