well i’ve been involuntarily admitted a few times. one time was for a month and i got a bill for 20-30k or something like that. i obviously didn’t have that kind of money and never paid it. now i wonder what became of it? or if its on my credit report? i don’t get calls about it. now im on medicaid and medicare so if im hospitalized it’s paid for. but still what are the ethical issues of charging a patient for an involuntary admission?
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It’s totally unacceptable. It should be for free
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also its the same story with caseworkers, they talk to you in the hospital, and say they are your caseworker now. then when you get out, they visit you and help you,. next thing you know your sent a bill. they never said anything about charging me. they act like they are there to help you. and now i have to have a caseworker by judge order or something, it almost seem like a crime to behave this way, that they force these services on me and then charge me unless i have medicaid. some people do pay out of pocket, but it annoyed me that they act like they are there to help and never say anything about cost when you are in the hospital.
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Should be free, involuntary or voluntarily
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My invoice in the States was almost entirely covered by Aetna.
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i was not insured at the time, and was also unemployed. can’t remember the year, it was about 8 years ago maybe, maybe 6 years ago, i don’t know. i still got a bill.
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Healthcare, including mental health care, is a human right
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That’s absolutely rediculous that actually makes me sick. How can you force medical treatment then bill the person. If they’re gonna take your human rights away least they can do is pay for it
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i thought about suing over the whole thing, but never did.
In Belgium I had to pay more because I took a single room. But Insurance is really important. I still have multiple insurance policies in case I need it.
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Not in the US unfortunately. All healthcare is extremely expensive and you are responsible for the bill even if your treatment is involuntary
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Dude if I was a lawyer I’d literally take your case for free, sue the government and make it a land breaking case to change this practice for good. This is unfair.
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I know, and it’s disgusting
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I don’t think they care about lawsuits. They probably have hundreds ongoing.
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Other condition I could maybe see like if someone had a stroke. But if you’re able to look the doctor in the face and say no I don’t want this treatment, and they simply do it anyways heck no
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But it’s the same here you have to pay for a forced visit to the psych ward. The only thing that you can do is pay, hopefully have insurance and hope that it doesn’t happen again.
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i’ll never pay them the money. not going to do it. thanks for the sentiments everybody, the consensus is it’s wrong. i did need treatment, but circumstances didn’t allow me to have coverage at the time. i was just delusional, not violent or suicidal, cops brought me to the hospital that time, when i was caught hiking on the railroad tracks. i guess i will never have money and work much and im ok with that. “do no harm” and they could have stressed me out to the max just to pay my debt down. i had already worked for nothing just to pay a few thousand dollars of student loan debt for a couple years. was not going to do that again. could always declare bankruptcy or something. i just received the one bill and then i went to the hospital and demanded my medical records and they never sent them to me.
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Here the mentality has become to pick people of the streets that are deemed “annoying”. It has nothing to do with being a danger to themselves or others.
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Medical bills are way too much 20 to 30 k is ridiculous
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