It's really not. I've even taken an Uber/Lyft to the ER in an emergency before - with money I had beg friends for + a coupon. Then the absurdly high ER bills went to collections, because we didn't have the Medicaid expansion here and I'm disabled and couldn't pay them since I can't work, and now I have debt collectors hounding me all the time.

When I was a kid and my dad was real sick, my parents got sued for unpaid medical bills we couldn't afford when my dad nearly died and had to be revived and intubated and shit. They garnished my dad's already piddly wages (mom's disabled, or they would have garnished hers, too) and they had to declare bankruptcy.

This country is such a mess.

My father-in-law fell down a flight of stairs last week. He just laid on the floor for three hours while he and his wife argued over if they could afford the ambulance. If I hadn't found out and gone over to get him myself, I think he'd probably still be on the floor now.

I once had a co-worker who was having a full blown asthma attack refuse to let me call an ambulance, preferring instead to wait for her sister in law to bike to the store with her inhaler. The system is just broken.

I've literally seen this in person