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Why? What benefit could I possibly have to keep my identity a secret in a hospital emergency? They need access to my NHS records so they know my medical history, blood type, current medications, etc.
They'd treat me regardless, but it would be very weird and suspicious if I didn't identify myself. They might even call the police because of it, because who does that?
Take just a moment to appreciate how shite the US healthcare system is that this post is sound medical advice.
Help. The insurance company is inside the house.
You let your doctors know your blood type? What if they use that to find out who you are and bill you
I recently had my first medical emergency, and I'm in the USA. It actually is pretty abysmal.
In my case, I wasn't literally on death's door, but I had an injury that I could not stop the bleeding from (and obviously could not tell how bad things were).
So, the first responder was able to control the bleeding during the ambulance ride. And once that part was done, they moved right into the ID, billing info, and insurance info right there in the ambulance.
I still needed additional emergency care, of course. So, we arrive at the emergency room, they check my vitals, and then as soon as the nurse is done with that part, and before I received any treatment, they were asking me for the same ID, billing info, and insurance questions.
Even with insurance that costs nearly $1,000 USD a month, I had to pay entirely for the ambulance ride and the emergency room doctor's fees (both were classified as out of network), as well as the co-insurance (20% of the inflated "insurance" cost for treatment that was "in-network"), and so on.
So I can understand why this type of advice is going around.
On the other hand, if your emergency room visit requires follow-up care and/or prescription medication, giving false (or no) identifying information will complicated that part so I hope you have good black/grey market connections or a relative with a pharmacy's worth of old prescriptions they didn't finish.
Last year I had to be taken to the hospital for an emergency and stayed for three days.
This is how much I was billed:
Fuck that, I've paid good money for my medical insurance, the company can damn well start paying the hospital! I've got a lot more in common with the nurses, doctors, and support staff than I do with insurance parasites, I want them justly recompensed for their labor. Will the company try to renege on the contract by refusing as much coverage as they think they can get away with? That's a lawsuit for another day, when I'm feeling better, and I'll recruit the hospital administrators to my side.
My brother in Christ, are you assuming the hospital (and the pharmacy) isn’t also owned by the insurance company? And do you think that the profits will get passed on to the laborers?
My brother in Christ, are you assuming the hospital (and the pharmacy) isn’t also owned by the insurance company?
In most places they aren't, and tbh its not always a bad thing when they are. The kaiser permanente model actually leads to better outcomes than in most hospital networks because it actually incentivizes preventative care.
This idea unfortunately isn't a great option for those with chronic illnesses. Having a medical history on file is often critical for recieving the correct care, and you can't have your cake and eat it.
Either they know who you are, your history, and where to bill to, or they don't know who you are, your history, and where to bill to.
As always the real answer is universal healthcare. But I totally get it for those who are in the position to do so.
Even in the US this doesn't seem like a good idea.
no visitors also means there's no one to provide medical history or advocate for you if you become too sick to speak for yourself. So you do need at least one person who can be trusted to also uphold the same level of secrecy for your benefit. MUTUAL AID, PEOPLE. The community needs to resist.
Now that said all of this is gonna go fits up once they gut EMTALA and it becomes legal to hold off on CPR until they can rifle through your wallet for an insurance card.
"Show up as a ghost and leave as one."