I cannot believe this guy. He doesn’t have insurance because he doesn’t like going to doctors? Was he told as a child that he was born under a lucky star and that he would never have an accident (like the one he had), cancer, diabetes, a stroke, etc? How nieve of him. Now he is tapping into the pubic coffers because he did not want to do the responsible thing and pay for insurance. This is why people like this should be forced to have insurance. According to the reporter he is now looking into getting insurance. Geez. People like him are the reason the government is tapped out.

this is a prime example of the insurance program the Obama has done. It is now going to cost the tax payers money cause he did not want insurance himself. how much more do we have to pay out for the people how dont want insurance then get hurt since they know, that the taxpayers will have to help pay for their mistakes Now he is complaining about the cost of the medical bill that he caused himself since, the way it sounds, he did not pay attention to the road and was probley driving to fast for the road.

Okay so I’m no big fan of doctors and don’t like the idea of paying for health insurance, but aren’t motorcyclist supposed to carry riders insurance? If I can’t drive a car (steel cage with seat belts, air bags, etc) with out having some kind of medical coverage – does it not stand to reason that a motorcyclist (steel horse – no protection other than clothing and a helmet) should have some sort of medical policy along with his bike insurance.
I support the paramedics 100% for taking him – he had a head injury! I would have done the same thing. The guy deserves the bill for the treatment received as a reminder life is not always fair – prepare for it in advance. I’d bet his family would have sued the paramedics had he been left at the side of the road and then died.

The first responder could possibly be wrong. I was told by an ambulance crew they couldn’t take a friend of ours because he said he didn’t want to go and he was messed up. The amubulance left without him. This guy should have been left to fend for himself IF they weren’t obvious life threatening injuries. 40,000 though. He must have been pretty messed up which may allow the responders to take him.

Wow, ” Terry says he did not have insurance, because he does not like going to the doctor?” So can he or can’t he afford insurance but can go out on a casual ride on a Harley? Lucky it was only 40k. I have never heard of a ER calling a helicopter just cause. How about a thank you to the first responders for helping vs leaving you to fend for yourself what part of you could have DIED? The ONLY person wrong in this case was this guy. Sell the Bike and pay the bill and get some insurance….

Another good example why we can be thankful the Democrats and Obama have solved the problem of insurance for the uninsured. Shame on the Republicans for always ignoring the problem.

The para medics were required by law because it was a head injury. But this man, once he got to the hospital could have refused treatment from the hospital. That is his right, he did not do that and now crying about the bill. Hey buddy, don’t ride a motorcycle if you cannot ride responsibly. Sell your Harley Nd pay your bill

I do know that this person did call family to come and help with his motorcycle and as soon as they finally caught up with him at Enloe he asked them to buy clothes for him ,and walked out of the hospital.

He did walk out as soon as he could get some clothes. WOW !

[...] I Don’t Have Insurance, Don’t Take Me To The Hospital [...]

Don’t forget 40K is the “everything and the kitchen sink” bill that they send out in the hopes that they will find a rich person who will pay the non-discounted rate.

When my son was born the hospital wanted to charge $53,000 for a week stay, the final rate was 21,000. The nurses just had to keep an eye on him under the bili lights and do normal feeding and changing. So the hospital made out, but not to the tune of 53K. Even with the Heli flight, his bill shouldn’t be more than 20K.

But where were his rights. If he said “no”, what right did they have to take him? He continually said “no!” – so I assume he didn’t want the helicopter.

Because they can be sued, they order everything. I hope he gets a good lawyer and sues for whatever the civil equivalent of kidnap and false imprisonment is.

“he had a head injury”. Not if he walked out, or it wasn’t a concussion. And I thought that was why California required helmets? He hit his head, the helmet prevented injury.

Not a chance of this happening in the future at all, actually, since Obamacare basically requires him to purchase insurance.

This is unfathomably wrong in every way. Literally nothing Obama has done has affected this in any way yet, and once Obama’s health care plan actually takes effect (which for this specific instance it hasn’t yet), the exact opposite would have happened.

You anti-Obama idiots are so deluded by right-wing talk radio that you can’t even get basic facts right.

People are forgetting that not all lethal head injuries are easy to detect. You can have a person walking and talking one minute, then the next they’re talking gibberish and then not breathing a second later because of a head bleed that wasn’t immediately detected. I’ve seen a lot of injuries where people initially seemed fine, only for them to start coding during transport to a hospital. If Terry hadn’t had a head injury then his wishes would have been respected, but like I said, not every person with a head injury is entirely rational. You can’t gamble that the person who seems fine now will continue to be fine.

EMTs do have to get medical training but without CTs or other ways of looking into a person’s head there’s no way to guarantee that Terry didn’t have a cerebral hemorrhage or damage to his spine. Like I said, not everything shows up immediately. Not taking him in would have been a lawsuit waiting to happen. What if he’d gone home and a family member found him dead the next morning? Obviously he’s fine but EMTs don’t have precognition. They can’t predict whether or not he’ll be fine. EMTs are smart and many of them go on to become nurses and doctors, but they can’t legally make the decision to let someone with a head injury leave the scene.

“Otherwise they can be held liable if something happens to you later.”

It’s unfortunate, but they should be held liable for his hospital bill to.

I’d happily pay more taxes to ensure that nobody has to refuse being cared for! I can’t believe how many people say “It’s your own fault!” as if people go seeking life-threatening injury. I’m sure everyone who reads this cares about someone who rides motorcycles, and if they were permanently maimed because they had to refuse care, you’d understand.

First of all, this guy has never had insurance, and the same thing would have happened to him if his accident occured during the Bush administration. And if you actually read the article, you’ll realize that taxpayers aren’t paying for his treatment at all, he still has $40,000 of unresolved medical bills. He is working with MediCal to try and lower the total amount he owes through a community service program, which seems completely reasonable. The article does not say if he was able to lower his bill, nor does it specify how much he might lower it by. Additionally, MediCal is a state run program, not federal. Has nothing to do with Obama. Obama’s plan basically requires that everyone has some form of insurance, precisely to prevent this type of thing from happening.

He was forced to undergo medical treatment that he did not want. Forcing him to then pay for it is like stealing someone’s car and then charging them for the gas. If he didn’t want treatment (for whatever reason, including not being able to pay for it) he should have been allowed to refuse treatment — and not charged if it was forced on him against his will.

I don’t have medical insurance. I can’t afford it. I did end up in the hospital last year, and I’m slowly paying for it. If the same thing happens again, I have no choice but to, quite literally, crawl off into the woods so I will die before my spouse finds me, because we can’t afford another hospital visit. It’s not a choice I look forward to, but it’s one I’ve made. I can’t afford insurance (look into private insurance costs sometime and shudder), and I can’t afford hospitalization, so I have no option but to refuse treatment — knowing what it will mean. Given cases like this, where people are forced to undergo treatment they do not want and then billed for what they have already refused, that means hiding. Now THAT is a sick situation.

If everyone should be forced to have insurance, why not just add another tax and supply medical care like the rest of the world does, instead of mandating that tax be paid to a private company whose entire purpose is to deliver as little as possible in exchange for as much money as possible? If you have to pay it, it IS a tax, whether the money goes to the government or to a corporation. SO at least be honest about it.

And think, in your self-righteousness, about the people who know they’re not born under lucky stars, who know they can’t afford medical insurance, who aren’t “tapping into the public coffers” … and have no choice but to die alone, so that they can’t be forced to undergo care they’re unable to afford.

It’s funny, you know … I never thought I would end up in this situation. I was just like everyone else … insurance and all … and then this economic mess hit. Just working harder, trying harder, didn’t help any more. Being the kind of person the demagogues and their followers idolized didn’t help any more. The economy is in the toilet, a lifetime of hard work bought only some more time before the money ran out. The kind of jobs I grew up with don’t exist any more, and employers want the young (until they get old) and the healthy (until they get sick) … and they have plenty to choose from. Plenty who are not me.

So I’m out of choices. If the same thing happens again, this time I die. Not a choice I’m happy with, but the only choice possible. A choice Terry Barth should have been allowed the option of making.

Because for some of us, privately-paid medical insurance ISN’T a choice.

You have no idea what you’re talking about. Just because someone is walking and talking does not mean that they’re fine. Go talk to anyone who has ever worked on an EMT crew or in an emergency room and ask them how many people with seemingly non-threatening head injuries end up on life support because of something that didn’t immediately show up. The amount of cases where this happened would surprise you. I’ve seen cases where someone was walking and talking when they were picked up by EMS but ended up having to get intubated (a tube down their throat because they couldn’t breathe on their own) because they had a head injury that didn’t immediately show up as severe.

This was just a case of the EMTs doing what they had to do. Without things such as CT scans and Xrays, there’s no way that they can tell how serious his injuries were.

Also, helmets don’t protect you from all injuries. They can sometimes mean the difference between life and death, but they’re not some magical talisman that keeps you completely safe from harm.

Did your friend have a head injury? If not, then they’re not required to take him in. If all he had was a few scratches to the face but no hard impact to the head then they might not have seen that as a head injury. Was your friend on a motorcycle or in a car? There’s a huge difference between banging your head against something while seatbelted into a car and falling off of a motorcycle. If it was on a motorcycle, then how fast was he going and did your friend have pretty visible injuries to the head? Since he wasn’t bundled off to the emergency room then I’m going to guess not.

This guy had taken a big blow to the head from falling off a motorcycle. He had a fractured eye socket which let me tell you, looks really nasty when it’s just been made. Google it and you’ll see what I mean. There’s a huge amount of blood. It can sometimes look worse than it actually is, but you can never really take that chance.

The price of that bike would buy him only a few months of private insurance. And in all probability, he couldn’t get it at all now, or not for less than several thousand a month. Yes, thousand. Private insurance companies make their money by collecting premiums from people who do not need medical care, not from paying for medical care to people who haven’t yet paid in enough to, in effect, pre-pay iit.

I miss the days when insurance companies (and hospitals, for that matter) were non-profit, before their for-profit competitors deliberately put them out of business (running at a loss and lowballing rates to employers, for example) so that they would have a clear field to do exactly what they’ve done: jack rates up sky-high and deliver little and less, so that their stockholders can make money. Instead of insured people and their medical care being the purpose of the insurance group (often a mutual group) they’re now revenue sources for large corporations, no different from ones selling soap — but life is worth more than soap, at least to the person who has it; to the person who only sees in dollars and cents, profit and loss, more money for the stockholders if this guy dies … to them, not so much.

Please understand that a head injury from falling off a motorcycle can be really nasty. You’re more likely to have a life threatening injury from a motorcycle crash than you are from a car crash because there’s no padding, no straps to protect you. All you have is a helmet that doesn’t always provide the protection you need when your head is bouncing along the street. You can still get a bad head injury even with a helmet.

You can’t gamble with head injuries. They’re not like injuries to other parts of the body because sometimes the deadliest injuries aren’t immediately obvious. The EMTs are not in a place to make a judgement as to whether or not a head injury of the sort that Terry had was non-life threatening. From the injuries the article described I’m going to guess that he looked pretty bad at the scene and because of that the EMTs were legally obligated to bring him in.

This is a law. Not them deciding because they had to fill a quota or because they wanted to get a few extra bucks for the hospital. A law that’s made to protect not only the EMTs but also the patient. Without proper scans and a doctor looking him over, the EMTs had no way of verifying that Terry wasn’t in any immediate danger from an internal head bleed that could only be picked up by a CT scan.

Driving a motorcycle can be pretty dangerous. There’s no protection but a helmet and all you have is the hope that the drivers around you in their huge cars will be contentious of the fact that you’re on a motorcycle. Lots of drivers tend to zip around people on their bikes or just flat out don’t notice you to begin with. If you ride then you’re at a higher risk of injury than a car driver is. Not having insurance because you don’t like doctors is pretty stupid, to be honest. Insurance is expensive and medical expenses are ridiculous, but it’s pretty much common sense to have insurance when you ride a bike.

I’m more puzzled by this guy saying that the road turned unexpectedly. Roads don’t move and unless you aren’t paying attention you can ride safely around weird turns. If you’re not familiar with the area then don’t bike through at 50 miles an hour. Go slowly and explore the territory first, making sure to take note of the road, what condition it’s in, and what type of drivers frequent the area. There are some areas I sure as **** wouldn’t bike in because the drivers are so freaking crazy it’d be suicide.

Ah you Americans – so stupid. Why don’t you have something like Australia’s Medicare? The best hospital treatment in the world absolutely free bar a piddling 1.5% extra on your tax. It works, it’s cheap and it keeps costs down.
$3,000 per day to stay in a hospital? Ridiculous! Top price I’ve seen in Oz? $450 per day. Top price you pay for any medication in Oz? $32.40.
You yanks could do with a good dose of socialised medicine.

You guys should have a scheme like Medicare that we have in Australia. No-one gets stuck with bills. It keeps prices down and delivers the highest standard of medical care in the world. Anyone who has any injury or illness can go to any public hospital and get full treatment at no direct cost. We have it because we are smart and we care about each other.

See, you went and used the ‘S’ word that causes far too many of my fellow citizens’ brains to lock up in terror and panic.

I’m not familiar with Australia’s heath system; I’m guessing it is similar to the U.K.’s and Canada’s. If it is similar, that would make Australia a great place to be in a car wreck, but a lousy place to have a hernia.

It should also be noted that over 25% of that $40K would go just for the helicopter airlift.

Therein lies the biggest swindle. While I’ve never been to the hospital in Quincy, I know the town and surrounding area has a population of at least 12,000. I find it hard to believe that Quincy’s emergency services cannot handle a concussion and facial fracture…
… And even if that was the case, why fly him to Chico? Why not just get Mr. Barth back on board an ambulance and drive him? This was not a life-and-death situation.

“I said i told you i can’t go, I don’t have insurance,” he recalls.

That bit doesn’t sound like he made a choice based upon preference. On the other hand if I were a medic, I might have taken him in as well.

Three suggestions for those of you complaining about high health care costs and dying rather than getting care:

1. Go to college. Retrain yourself. Many state colleges offer medical insurance, even for part timers. Don’t make excuses you can’t afford it or you’re too old, Both are false. if you can’t find work or med insurance, change things.

2. Minimum private insurance for a 50 year old female in NJ for instance is 200/month. Expensive but don’t pretend it’s the cost of a new motorcycle. Do some homework. There are government websites out there now to help you find commercial health care.

3. Move to a state with insurance. I hear Vermont is going to single payer and MA is pretty good.

3.

You must not be all that familiar with how the world works.

All of the options you’ve suggested are incredibly expensive. College is expensive and not everyone has the option of getting a student loan. This isn’t even including the amount of free time you need to take a class- some people just don’t have it. Moving to another state is just ludicrous since that’s ridiculously expensive and as far as paying insurance goes, not everyone can afford $200 a month. Some people can’t afford to eat and you’re saying that they can should be able to afford health insurance?

The government insurances only applies to certain people and you’d be surprised at who gets turned down. I know someone who had to fight to get insurance and she’s a disabled woman who is incapable of working due to various problems with her heart and because of cancer. She’s in and out of hospitals on a regular basis and didn’t really get stable health insurance until her husband was able to find a job after months of searching.

James, you are really uninformed on the facts.

The EMTs were absolutely right for taking him in against his own will.

The hospital is absolutely wrong for billing him after the fact.

The end.

even if he had a head injury, if the patient could answer the primary questions (i.e. name, president, date, etc…) then he is deemed competent and can sign a release form and NOT transported. I’m sure there are more details we’re not being told.

what law is that? CA must have some really JACKED up laws – as every state i’ve worked EMS, if the patient can answer some basic questions to prove that he’s alert and oriented x 3, he’s free to sign the release and be on his way. Otherwise, it could be assault on the part of the EMS providers – but again, I don’t know CA protocols, and I’m sure we don’t have all the information…

the joke is the real bill is a fraction of the quoted priced. Wouldn’t be surprised if an insurance company paid 5% of the 40,000 and the bill would be closed.

I Live in New York City and one of the greatest thing I found out when I moved here was is that any single person who makes under 43K after taxes can get free public health insurance. I pay $10 for any prescription, doesn’t matter the type or dosage, $30 to see a doctor or go to the emergency room, and hospital stays are capped at $800. The downsides are that typically you have to make an appointment about a month in advanced for specialists and picking up a new prescription can take 2 or 3 hours. Overall a reasonable trade off for saving over $150 a month by not purchasing insurance through my company.

The reason why every US critizen should get free medical care, b/c we still have to paid for regardless after the bill; in addition, if someone is ill they are not contribute to society. Don’t vote for party that don’t want healthcare for all.

Really, where are the commas and capitalized personal pronouns throughout this story?

Even a browser-based spell check would have fixed most of this story.

Some errors are OK if unprofessional, but when I cannot properly read a story, I wonder about everything from our schools to the idiotic state of journalism.

[...] might impede his decision-making ability, the paramedics loaded him up in the ambulance anyway. Barth was taken to the local hospital and then eventually flown to the nearest trauma center. He had a concussion and a broken eye [...]

Suppose he goes home and is found unconscious the next day. He never regains consciousness but lives on for another 30 years, costing the taxpayers millions and millions of dollars. Is that what people want? His medical care didn’t cost 40K, that was what the hospital billed him to cover care to other uninsured patients. Now someone else will be charged for his bill.
The system is broken. Obama tried to take a baby step to start fixing it, using a REPUIBLICAN-develooped plan, and the Republican’ts showed how serious they are about helping to fix the country’s problems. Yeah, the sure do love this country, and they’re going to sit and watch our health care system blow up to prove it.

Its not the “S” word that scares us, its the fact that we will be paying for BS since, unlike Australia and Canada and other places with these programs, our law would allow every toe pain, drug seeking, non problem to suck up the resources of the system. Also, our doctors won’t be protected form being sued like their doctors are. These costs would bankrupt any national healthcare system in the US. Also, unlike these other countries, my income gets taxed when I receive it, when I purchase something with it, and then annually on some of the things I purchased. Most folks don’t have much left to pay new taxes for a national system.

It’s doesn’t say WHO CALLED the ambulance – did the guy on the motorcycle call, or did he just happen to be found?

If he called, he should pay. If not, he shouldn’t……………..

Forced medical treatment is an assault. he should sue the people responsible and they should pay his bill. But that’s STUPID. I was once in a similar situation and I told everyone — in the ambulance, in the emergency room and in the treatment room, that I had no insurance and ‘NO ONE WILL EVER PAY FOR THIS”. I refused to sign anything. The medical personnel actually seemed to appreciate my honesty and the treatment I got was more relaxed, it seemed, because they didn’t have to bill anybody, and better than usual, as far as I could tell.

he cant afford insurance… but can afford a harley?

But he is not saying “no” because he thinks he is fine. He said “no” because he knows he cannot afford the medical bill.

[...] [...]

@Hospital Worker,

It’s lapsed now, but I’ve had EMT certification. And head injuries, for that matter, including the bleed that put me in the ICU. I know how bad they can get, and how fast. And, given some of the injured people I’ve met, how they can affect the person who has them.

That still does not justify forcing someone to accept medical treatment they have refused. Yes, a head injury can kill someone. It may very well kill someone. But for some of us, LETTING IT KILL US is the only choice we have left. We can’t afford to pay for it. We can’t afford insurance. We don’t have anyone we can hit up for money. It sucks, but that’s how it is.

Yes, a car would have been safer than a motorcycle. I doubt if people would agree, though, that this man should have been issued a car and then charged for it. “Here’s your new Ford, and your bill.” But that’s essentially what they did: gave him something he didn’t want “for his own good” and then demanded that he pay for it.

Exactly.

I’ve been an EMT. A blood relative is an RN. I’ve dealt with people with head injuries. I know how fast they can kill. But for some people (I never expected to be one of them, but I am) dying without treatment is the only option left.

Forcing treatment on him, then forcing him to pay for it, is no more right than forcing him to drive a car instead of a motorcycle, then forcing him to pay for the car.

he should use an illegal immigrant name then it’s free…It’s against the law to ask for paperwork? just sayin thats what nurses are sayin….

Universal Health Care would be evil.

Where EXACTLY did it say he couldn’t afford insurance?

Yes. That is exactly what he should have done. He could have said his name was Jose and that’s all he was telling them. His bills would be paid by now and he’d probably have a job offer.

No, people like those who sneak into our country, steal our jobs, drain our services, jam our jails and prisons, commit the majority of crimes and demand everything in their own language are why the government is tapped out.

Oh, but you DO pay taxes to help care for people who are irresponsible. It’s called welfare and MediCal. Heck, you should feel even better knowing that some illegal fence jumper can come here with a pre-existing condition and get treated at YOUR expense, then go back to whatever rat hole country he crawled out from.

Now that he has “suffered a concussion and a broken bone around his eye”, he has a preexisting condition and won’t be able to get insurance.

[...] a concussion is medically considered to not be of their right mind.  For example, there’s this recent story of an uninsured man who was taken to a hospital by ambulance against his will after [...]

[...] [...]