Yes they can, and they are denied care routinely, every single day.
I’ve spoken to several lawyers, they’ve ALL said no doctor is obligated to treat people.
Heart attacks, sure, but take a pain crisis...OBVIOUSLY a warranted ER visit...a doc in an ER after hours once told my wife to go somewhere else ‘cause he “didn’t do pain control”...I could not find an attorney who would take my calls, let alone the case.
And this was the ONLY hospital in our area our plan would pay for!
So...I could have taken the chance to go elsewhere and pay out of pocket ABOVE and BEYOND the $700+ we pay per MONTH...but...
I may as well have been talking to someone at burger king when I chewed out the hospial administrator.
I’m a nurse, was an Air Force medic, I’m definitely NOT for gov. healthcare; but this busniess about “by law people can get healthcare regardless of ability to pay” is smply not true at all by any stretch and certainly not true in all cases.
And we’ve heard all the stories about pt’s dying in the hallways, or sent home, and sure, they sue, but ummmm....it’s kind of late AFTER the funeral...and the threat of a lawsuit isn’t the deterrent people make it out to be!
If you’re too poor to pay for a doctor, how then are you going to pay for an attorney? Unless you’re literally dead, most lawyers won’t touch you!
PERIOD.
I’ve seen it all too often, both pesonally and in my practice!
And you are right, all doctors are not obligated to treat you regardless of ability to pay. Walk into any private practice and demand to be seen by the doctor for free. They will rightfully throw you out.
I remember several years back when I didn't have insurance. I became ill and needed attention. There was a Doc In A Box around the corner. I walked in, told them I needed to see a doctor, why, and that I didn't have insurance so could you "go easy on me with the cost". An hour later I was outta there with a bag full of samples instead of a prescription and my total bill was in the neighborhood of $125.
tpanther,
I’m sorry to hear that you and your wife had a bad experience. No one here has claimed that our healthcare system is perfect. I personally have many complaints about our current system. That’s why I didn’t mention the horror stories I’ve heard about socialized medicine. We have some horror stories here, too. See my tagline: My poor father had a terrible experience, and our family continues to question and regret the decisions we made in doctors, surgery, etc.
However, all of those problems we experienced would be worsened under increased government control.
The poster is asking why we oppose socialized medicine. Our question should be: What would be the advantages to socialized medicine? In what way would it be better than our current system, which already is partly controlled by our government? The onus is on the poster to convince us to change our current system to his.