[ALittleLight]

Nonsense. There are many ways to get free or reduced price medical care in the US, especially if you are poor. Your doctor will have resources to help you if needed.

You can also rack up huge medical debt and then not pay it. The hospital will sell your debt to bill collectors who will call you for a while, and eventually sue you. At that point you can offer to settle for pennies on the dollar, or you might lose the lawsuit and have to declare bankruptcy which would mean you have negative credit for a few years.

Obviously it will be a difficult time, and hopefully you have something else, but they won't just let you die because you can't afford it.

[WarOnPrivacy]

> There are many ways to get free or reduced price medical care in the US, especially if you are poor.

"In the US" here is a bit misleading because it conflates places where the poor have reliable access to needed healthcare with the places they do not.

> Your doctor will have resources to help you if needed.

This seems presumptuous. More so because we just discussed this and he does not. To be fair, it was expected.

> You can also rack up huge medical debt and then not pay it.

This is a simple declarative statement in the face of a complex issue. It does not (and can not) meaningfully address the required nuances. For example that the medicaid isn't available (red state), that surgery is beyond the scope of the sole social provider (Good Samaritan) or persuading any one of our (rural for-profit) hospitals that non-urgent oncological care should be provided due to EMTALA.

And thru 25yrs of care giving my disabled spouse and 15yrs servicing the medical community, I've learned a bit about what is and isn't available in this place.

[porknubbins]

Also if you have a low paying job its probably not a big loss to quit it and go on Medicaid if you have a six or seven figure illness. Though it seems like they are trying to change this path for 2027.

[bored_student]

Well, unfortunately the current administration has blocked a bill that would have prohibited medical debt from reflecting on your credit score.

[ALittleLight]

If someone is dying of colorectal cancer, trying to get them to worry about their credit score is not only not helpful, it's actively harmful. Messing up your credit for a few years is in the category of "inconvenience" and it's not the kind of thing that you need to worry about when surviving cancer.

[bored_student]

You’re right. I am just bitter and angry because I have to get my endoscopy done and I owe my life to my doctoral program that gives me excellent health insurance.