Vice Presidential Debate

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(10-09-2020, 04:38 PM)Mickeypoo Wrote: I don't know much about healthcare laws.  Maybe I am thinking about it wrong.  As far as I am aware a non private Hospital can not turn down someone for care.  So if that is the only option for an illegal for example, they just go to the ER and when they cannot pay that becomes bad medical debt; which in the end is funded by taxes.  At least I thought that was the jist of what Breech was saying.  I'm open to being wrong.  lol

So really the ER's in the US can be used as free healthcare services for any illegal...?

You’re referring to EMTALA.

https://www.acep.org/life-as-a-physician/ethics--legal/emtala/emtala-fact-sheet/

EMTALA guarantees you will receive a screening medical exam to determine if you have an emergency. If you don’t have an emergency, the hospital isn’t obligated to provide any further care.

If you come into the ER for high blood pressure and your BP is normal that’s the end of your screening exam. You do not have a life threatening condition that requires stabilization and treatment. We’re done. Buh-bye.

But, if you come in with chest pain, you’re probably gonna get the million dollar work up that rules out a life threatening condition without a definitive diagnosis and told to follow up with a cardiologist to complete the work (which if you don’t have insurance you’re not going to that appointment.)

And, yeah, there are an estimated 10-15 illegal immigrants, but when Obamacare was passed there was five times that number of uninsured Americans. And there aren’t 10-15 million illegals with 10-15 million medical emergencies every year which is why the vast majority of people getting “free” health care at the ER are poor American citizens with a job and the data supports that conclusion.