RIPOFF: My wife's $7500 ER bill for pneumonia diagnosis - Single-Payer Medicare for all a must

[JenniferJuniper]

4. My second cousin died last December

48 years old. Went to urgent care feeling unwell and they took his vitals and recommended he go to the ER and get more thoroughly checked out. We'll never know exactly why he didn't go because he died of a heart attack at home that night without telling anyone why, but his mother is convinced he avoided the ER because his insurance was so bad he likely didn't think he could afford the visit, never mind an extended hospital stay. He was a working stiff with very limited benefits.

People are dying all the time because they are afraid to go to the hospital. My own half-way decent insurer has now added a condition that if you go to the ER instead of urgent care, they reserve the right not to pay the hospital if they deem it a non-emergency. So you are basically forced to go to urgent care first so they can decide if it's an emergency or not. Hopefully you have the time.