US Health Care

What the US Government pays for depends on a multitude of things. And if "Obamacare" legistlation kicks in that will change.

What happens a lot of times, in actuality, is people will go into the hospital Emergency Room for care when they are desperate, and the hospitals cannot typically turn them away. The hospitals then have to absorb the costs themselves. They can use those cases for tax write-offs but it still makes them less (or un) profitable. My wife's hospital has been running with a loss for about a year now, partly because more people are utilizing their services without insurance.

So - there is not simple answer to that question.

quote:

what happens to people in the US with UC who are too ill to work and thus have no healthcare insurance

Ultimately if someone is too ill to work they file a claim for social security disability benefits which is essentially payments from the Social Security Administration to persons who are too ill mentally or physically to be gainfully employed considering their education, abilities etc. Unfortunately it is not necessarily a slam dunk to get SSDI benefits on the 1st application and during the wait there is no income coming in.

Medicare would kick in to pay for treatment for a successful SSDI applicant.

Unfortunately Kiwi Poucher the HealthCare situation in the USA is very complicated as alluded to by Elmer Fudd. What EF said about hospitals is also correct. Unfortunately patients without insurance go to the emergency room and they are responsible for the bill but hospitals often end up absorbing the costs of this treatment. My cousin is working in the collection department of one of the major hospitals in CT and it is a huge issue/dilemma for them. Most of the people without insurance do not have other assets from which to pay for the treatment. Unpaid medical bills are the number 1 cause of bankruptcies in the USA.

The bottom line is that we as a country have not yet figured it all out, not that anyone else has. We have some of the best health care in the world and a population that is living longer and not able to work, or else they have not saved for retirement. This situation of greater longevity of our citizens coupled with insufficient assets to pay for their treatments creates additional health care costs for everyone, young and old.

It's a huge and complicated dilemma and you will pull your hair out trying to get any straight or simple answers that make sense.