Can an Emergency room force you to pay before they treat you?!
Question: I was in a car accident today and am having major pains in my neck. i believe i need to get to a doctor right away but i have been told that the ER out here in Tennessee will force you to fork out $150 before they will treat you. I have also heard that they must see you regardless of your finacial situation
Answers: I was in a car accident today and am having major pains in my neck. i believe i need to get to a doctor right away but i have been told that the ER out here in Tennessee will force you to fork out $150 before they will treat you. I have also heard that they must see you regardless of your finacial situation
They legally CANNOT force you to pay a penny in advance and you are correct that they must accept all patients to enter the ER. It's a federal NOT state law. They can attempt o collect after the treatment or send you a bill... Those are their options..
Emergency rooms must see and stabilize any life threatening illnesses or traumas without regard to ability to pay or insurance issues.
I do believe that some hospitals are requesting payment up front for illnesses and conditions that aren't life threatening.
The best thing to do would be to call the ER itself and ask what their policy is.
Part of the problem is that people use ER's as a walk in clinic and it takes away from their ability to treat those who are really emergencies. (not saying your's isn't)
If you have a life-threatening condition they will work on you right away. If you have a boo-boo, you'd better have your checkbook or you may be in the waiting room for days. They have to treat you, but a busy emergency room gets to "triage" their patients.
In Los Angeles, they stabalize you and then drop you off on skid row if you can't provide an address. The commie leaning liberals say that it's a terrible injustice. The fascist leaning conservatives say why should I pay for his care?
Fee for services has made our medical system the best in the world, but all other industrialized nations have socialized health care. How's that for a trade-off?
In no way is an ER ever allowed to deny medical treatment to a person in need due to financial reasons. This is not to say that the person is not responsible for any financial costs but that matter should always be dealt with after medical treatment.
If it is a private hospital then they have every right not to treat until you pay unless it is a life or death situation. Now if you go to a state run hospital then they will have to help regardless of fin. situation.