Welcome to sick season.
According to the CDC, New York City — along with New Jersey and at least 16 other states — is now experiencing “high” to “very high” levels of respiratory-illness activity as measured by the number of weekly visits to health-care providers and emergency rooms by people having symptoms of fever, cough, and sore throat.
The culprits are the usual suspects: this year’s strains of influenza, COVID, and RSV. And though flulike-illness levels have been above baseline nationally for several consecutive weeks, the CDC warns that we still haven’t hit the peak.
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As always, seniors remain the most at-risk demographic for severe outcomes from respiratory illnesses, which is why the low vaccination rates for that group remain troubling.
Beyond vaccination, for everyone, the best way to prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses like the flu and RSV is regular handwashing; avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth; and staying home if you get sick. High-filtration face masks still work great, too, and not just for avoiding COVID.
Is that a serious question? I sincerely hope that people don’t think that is a thing to do.
Going to the ER is always going to be more expensive than going to a regular doctor, with insurance or without.
An urgent care clinic or general medical center is where you’re supposed to go for non-emergency care. If you can’t afford the doctor bills at those, then the local county health department should offer medical services at reduced cost for low-income people.
Urgent care and medical centers require insurance.
ERs do not.
So, again, where do people without insurance go for non-emergency healthcare? What the county health department should do is irrelevant. There should be universal healthcare in this country. There isn’t that and health departments aren’t offering any medical services at reduced cost.
The only option uninsured people have in much of the U.S. is the ER.
Man you really don’t know how the medical system works at all. Please stop giving out this wrong information to anyone.
Urgent care here requires insurance. There is no medical center here, so I can’t speak for those. The fact that there isn’t one here, however, suggests that they are not a good solution. The ER does not require insurance anywhere. Poor people here who have no insurance go to the ER. All the time. I’ve been in the ER three times this year so far (I do have insurance) and there are always people there who have no insurance who need to be seen for something medically that could have been taken care at the urgent care who won’t see them.
Furthermore, there should, in fact, be universal healthcare.
So what did I get wrong?
I have never heard of any medical practice that would not see patients without insurance. I have been to several of them with no insurance personally.
Here is a link that proves you are wrong:
https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/why-choose-us/walk-in-clinic-cost-no-insurance
EDIT: See also - https://www.healthcare.gov/community-health-centers/
Guess what also isn’t offered here? A walk-in clinic at CVS.
So I’m not sure how that proves me wrong.
Here’s another link for you, but you probably just want to argue by splitting hairs or something so good luck with your ER bills.
https://www.healthcare.gov/community-health-centers/
CVS’s link was simply an example, you should have several options in any city for a walk-in clinic if you look around. The community health center thing is nationwide and government funded.
Yeah… about those community health centers… https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-12/as-millions-face-loss-of-medicaid-community-health-centers-strained
And, of course, you better hope you’re healthy enough to walk or take the bus to one if you can’t drive or have someone drive you. And you better hope work lets you off. Because being sick in America if you’re poor is very expensive for many reasons.
As someone who has spent a shit ton of time at many different medical facilities and, during that time, spent some of it completely poor, I can confidently assure you that you are the one who’s incorrect.
An emergency room can’t turn somebody away just because they can’t pay. Other facilities can and do. This results in people without health insurance going to the emergency department for every little need.
Ehhh he’s fairly spot on. When I didn’t have insurance I had to go to the ER or try to find a doc that would write a prescription “under the table” - which never went well. No urgent care would see me.
Now that I have insurance I’ve only been to the ER for a real emergency once.
Still going to the ER with insurance wiped out my savings though, so I don’t really see all that much difference.
Well it sounds like y’all are living in terrible places and you should move.
I live in one of the poorest parts of the USA, and have spent decades in poverty myself. During my terms in poverty I usually had no health insurance also, and I got all the medical care I needed by going to normal doctors, none of which ever turned me away for not having insurance.
So I have literally never encountered any medical facility that turns away patients for not having insurance. That would amount to a criminal action IMO and should be cause for a complaint to the state’s medical board should you encounter that again.
Theft is a crime.
You are admitting to being an entitled theif.
Please quote me “admitting to being an entitled thief.” This should be interesting.
wtf
There SHOULD be universal Healthcare, but there isn’t.
The answer is finding a private practice that will see you for cash, not theft, which is a crime.
You are not entitled to free healthcare.
yikes
Yikes what?
I am all for the US going single payer. We aren’t though.
So impoverished sick people who can’t afford to go to a private practice for cash should just die?
No, what isn’t getting through your thick skull?
You take on the medical debt. Like everyone else does.
And if you never pay it back… which poor people can’t afford to do… that’s not theft?
No.
Minimum/Good faith payments.
Carry the debt. Like everyone else.
Don’t be a criminal.
What is so hard to understand about this?
You cant afford a car. Do you go and steal a Lexus? No, you get a used PT Cruiser and you make the payments. Capitalism isn’t that hard to understand, if you live in America, you need to understand it until we get some Socialism installed, which I am for, but breaking the existing system and fucking over the rest of us is not the way.
Taking on 300 dollars in debt for a trip to a private practice is FAR better than taking on 3000 dollars in debt by going to an ER. And just skipping out on the bill you run out isn’t an option. That is theft.
If you go into debt with a car and can’t afford the payments, they take the car back.
What do you suggest happen if the person can’t afford to pay back their medical debts?
And I’m still waiting for you to quote me “admitting to being an entitled thief,” as you accused me of doing. Was that a lie?
Lmao this HAS to be a troll
I’m a nurse in a hospital. We absolutely do NOT consider uninsured people seeking healthcare to be theft.
Would we prefer that people have Medicaid and seek primary care services elsewhere? Of course. So one of the things we do when people come in is get them signed up. Should that be our responsibility? Of course not. But here we are.
To be clear, I am saying providing a false name or intending to fully skip out on the bill is theft.
I am arguing with people here who say the ER is the ONLY place you can go if you don’t have insurance. That is a lie. There are tons of places you can go, the ER is NOT your only option if you don’t have insurance.
I am arguing with people here who say if your uninsured and go to the ER you should provide a false name or fully ignore the bill you run up. That is theft. You take on your debt, you make at least good faith payments, or you file for bankruptcy, just like the rest of us.
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