[mike_d]

Emergency rooms are already the treatment of last resort for the uninsured. Visit any ER on a Tuesday afternoon in a major city and you'll be stuck in a two hour queue behind what are 95% primary care issues.

The $400 Tylenol people love to complain about in the hospital is a direct result of the government mandate to treat thousands of patients a day effectively for free because we can't get our shit together and provide universal healthcare.

[wefarrell]

It’s terrible for a hospital’s business to have their ER clogged by people who don’t have emergencies and can’t pay. It means they see a much lower volume of people who can pay.

So they aren’t going to deny people primary care because doing so will just cause them to wind up in the ER.

[mike_d]

> It’s terrible for a hospital’s business to have their ER clogged by people who don’t have emergencies and can’t pay.

It is already a big enough problem they don't seem to care. Hospitals in less affluent areas are getting interest free loans from the state to keep emergency care from bankrupting them: https://calmatters.org/health/2023/08/california-hospitals-b...

> So they aren’t going to deny people primary care because doing so will just cause them to wind up in the ER.

You seem to be confused that I am speaking to some hypothetical future situation. Hospital networks require you to either pay outstanding balances or meet with someone to arrange a payment plan before you can be seen. Taking away the ability to report to credit is only going to make them more aggressive in this practice.

[wefarrell]

I have a company that sells to hospitals, they absolutely care about keeping the wrong people out of the emergency room.

“ Hospital networks require you to either pay outstanding balances or meet with someone to arrange a payment plan before you can be seen.”

Putting them on a payment plan is not the same thing as forcing them to pay. I believe they would force payment for elective care, not preventative.