Like imagine you suffer injuries in an armed robbery, or from a hurricane or other severe climactic event. Do the hospitals still expect you to pay money even in those cases? I imagine it also applies to police brutality.

I ask because an acquaintance got a broken leg from being ran over by police in a protest recently and, naturally, everybody just called an ambulance and they got to the hospital and that was that, because free healthcare here is a universal right (even if severely underfunded). But then with the recent protests in the US I realised even getting a broken finger from being handcuffed could actually cost people real money.

  • GenLe@lemmy.ml
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    23 days ago

    Generally speaking, no. However, depending on the hospital in question and their policies, there are hospitals who will waive the cost if you are a victim of a crime. I happen to know this because there is a local hospital near me that do exactly this. Some other hospitals-- again depending on the individual hospital-- have programs where they can assist (or at least help somehow) with the cost for patients who are unable to foot the bill due of a lack of resources. But that is not every hospital, and more than likely you will be expected to foot the bill no matter what.