Sen. Bernie Sanders told CBS News he's "very disappointed" by the bill to end the government shutdown, calling a planned vote on health insurance subsidies "meaningless."
No, there is no practical, immediate, and acceptable alternative available.
You just go, accept the debt, and eventually file bankruptcy.
That’s not really a viable option for most people in the USA.
Bankruptcy in the USA is expensive in and of itself, comes with a lot of limitations, and still requires you to sell your property (if you’re wealthy) or continue to pay off the debt (if you’re working class). No way I can cover all the cons and reasons that’s not an option for most people, but basically it’s a huge gamble and is liable to leave you in a worse off financial situation than if you’d just maintained insurance.
Also, most people’s medical care comes from primary care, urgent care, pharmacies (i.e. non-emergency care). These are places where you pay up front or you don’t get service / prescriptions / care – particularly if you are uninsured. These places do not have to provide service if you can’t pay.
For emergency room care, there is a minimum standard of care that they must provide regardless of ability to pay, but it’s (hand waving here) basically just patch you up enough to temporarily stabilize you so you can be pushed out the door. Overwhelmingly, people who’ve been to the emergency room require follow-up care (not provided by the emergency room), and that follow-up care is similarly pay up front or no service. The emergency room also isn’t going to manage all the routine stuff unless/until it’s at a life altering point, and if you wait that long to get treatment for those types of things, you pretty much always end up much worse off in the long run.
So again, this is not really an option for most people or most ailments.
But, isn’t there an alternative? You just go, accept the debt, and eventually file bankruptcy.
Sounds fucked up, but at the same time… what’s the number one reason for bankruptcy in the US? We’d just be doing so on our terms by that point.
No, there is no practical, immediate, and acceptable alternative available.
That’s not really a viable option for most people in the USA.
Bankruptcy in the USA is expensive in and of itself, comes with a lot of limitations, and still requires you to sell your property (if you’re wealthy) or continue to pay off the debt (if you’re working class). No way I can cover all the cons and reasons that’s not an option for most people, but basically it’s a huge gamble and is liable to leave you in a worse off financial situation than if you’d just maintained insurance.
Also, most people’s medical care comes from primary care, urgent care, pharmacies (i.e. non-emergency care). These are places where you pay up front or you don’t get service / prescriptions / care – particularly if you are uninsured. These places do not have to provide service if you can’t pay.
For emergency room care, there is a minimum standard of care that they must provide regardless of ability to pay, but it’s (hand waving here) basically just patch you up enough to temporarily stabilize you so you can be pushed out the door. Overwhelmingly, people who’ve been to the emergency room require follow-up care (not provided by the emergency room), and that follow-up care is similarly pay up front or no service. The emergency room also isn’t going to manage all the routine stuff unless/until it’s at a life altering point, and if you wait that long to get treatment for those types of things, you pretty much always end up much worse off in the long run.
So again, this is not really an option for most people or most ailments.