It’s the middle class who pays their huge bills. Insurance doesn’t cover why these days and deductibles are insanely high. The poor get treated and just skip out on the bill.
For 2018 the individual limit was $7350,
https://obamacarefacts.com/health-insurance/out-of-pocket-ma...
Which granted is a _LOT_ if your making $30k a year, but its not the instant bankruptcy many people discovered themselves in after situations like yours where the out of pocket for "good insurance" could easily go over $100k for fairly limited hospital says.
What's your proposed solution? Just murder the poor to balance the system? Which is, after all, what we already do, we just disguise it as "choice".
Most providers (outside of ERs and the mandate for emergency stabilization therein, and some free clinics operated as charities) won't provide treatment without proof of insurance and any required co-payment upfront, or, for private pay clients upfront payment or fairly strong proof that payment will be collectible.
Why? They're there to keep you healthy. Yeah, sure it can be uncomfortable talking to a doctor about personal health issues, but it's better than waiting until it's too late and finding out that "if only you'd come sooner, we could have helped".
Like Feynman said though, if you are deathly ill in the jungle you would rather go see a witchdoctor than some random person. At least they will have some experience caring for the sick.
>"Do you have a a Do Not Resuscitate order?" - No
>"Would you reject emergency surgery after being shot?" - No
I suspect the real problem here is with your reading comprehension though.
This is probably the issue under contention. I don't like doctors either (or really the entire medical establishment). Some part of that is a belief that they aren't in fact there to keep you healthy. No I'm not trying to argue something like profit motives or whatever driving an unethical effort to make you dependent instead of healthy, or say doctors shouldn't exist, or that I wouldn't go to one if I thought I needed medical care, just that I don't like doctors or the systems and methods they operate under (some by force). nonbel unpacks one aspect of the dislike, The Elephant in the Brain unpacks another aspect (e.g. by the finding that people who receive free healthcare consume a lot more medicine but aren't any healthier, which wasn't actually surprising for me to hear!), and there are other aspects for my dislike too.
Is there any evidence of this? I've seen malpractice litigation similarly cited as one of the reasons behind the the high cost of health care in the US (which is also frequently disputed [1])
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/upshot/malpractice-reform...
Please, go to the doctor early and regularly. It's not worth it, trust me.
Your story could be helpful to others. According to the doctors:
1) What is the years survived estimate of this vs doing nothing in your fathers situation (age, stage, etc)?
2) What are the side effects (and in general the quality of life) after/during this treatment vs doing nothing?
Also, these should both be some sort of histograms or at least ranges.
Do you understand how insanely expensive healthcare in this country is, especially if you're making minimum wage and have dependents?
What do you suggest they do instead? Die? Let their kids die?
If you do, you (or at least your kids) likely qualify for Medicaid, so you do get treatment. Often preferentially. I have been to providers who have a 6-8 week lead time on appointments for new private insurance patients, but Medicaid patients get in almost immediately.
It's not a matter of forcing that decision on people, but rather having the same expectation of personal choice and responsibility for that choice that we have for other health matters (exercise, diet, smoking, alcohol use).
It's a biological drive so it's tough. But I think we could do better. We're too sensitve that we might be "poor shaming" or such nonsense to even discuss it these days.
That's mostly value indoctrination (both the what they deserve part and the “do not do X if you cannot do Y” part fairly directly,and also the “what they cost” if it focuses on what a preferred approach costs rather than the costs of a spectrum of choices), not education.
> It's a biological drive so it's tough
It's also an economic choice, which is why birthrate declines with strength of social safety nets.
(Which is also why strengthening the social safety net is probably a better approach than trying to shame people into not reproducing.)