ZackB
Gold Member
- Banned
- #961
Sorry to hear she did not make it. Cancer is a horrible disease.You are factually incorrect. I have a family member who had cancer and needed surgery. It was planned - surgery was scheduled 2-3 months after diagnosis. She had no insurance no means to pay. The surgery ended up costing her nearly $100k. I know this because I helped her negotiate and settle the bills. On the morning of the surgery I gave the hospital $1,000.00. She had the surgery. This was pre-ACA.Even prior to the ACA nobody was denied access to healthcare. If you walked into a publicly funded hospital with a stab wound or drug overdose they were required to take care of you.
If you walked in with cancer and needed treatment, they may or may not treat you. Hospitals only have to stabilize the person. They do not have to offer full treatment if the person is not capable of making payment. What I find a bit odd is that conservatives are against forcing people to buy health insurance, but they seem to have no problem with the idea, as false as it is, that hospitals must treat patients who cannot pay? How is that based on a free market economy? If you can't pay, the hospital should be able to tell you to go home and die if you truly believe in free markets without regulation.
I have worked through the process, and I do not make factual assertions unless I know them to be true, unlike 95% of you here.
Same thing with my late neighbor. She developed lung cancer and also had no insurance. She didn't make much money so she opted for cash instead of her work insurance program.
They took good care of her and even provided transportation to and from the hospital for chemo treatments. Unfortunately, she didn't make it. She died a little over two years ago. But she willed her house to her son and nobody ever tried to take it from him or her.