I had to think about this for an embarrassingly long time before I realise this was America and they don't have the NHS. In the UK you should absolutely provide your identity to the hospital, so it can go on your medical record.

When I'm having a medical emergency at home, my first step is always to get into my car and drive at least 5 miles away.

In case people are missing the joke the reason is so that they can't find you to bill you.

This doesn't actually work quite like this, but it's a funny joke none the less.

Especially if you've been to that hospital before. And if you have any medical records anywhere.

I like this idea but I struggle to believe it would work.

Went to the hospital for a kidney stone a few years ago. When I was released, 3 security guards crowded the front door to the hospital and wouldn’t let me leave for an extra hour and a half because they were adamant I had to pay my bill then and there.

They had all my information, didn’t even bother trying to go through my insurance, just “no, you owe us 2400 right now” and threatening to call the cops.

Me, a 110lbs woman fucked up on dilauded was ready to tussle but ended up paying before I left cause I didn’t want to deal with the police.

They ended up charging me, and then my insurance as well. I talked to my insurance who then bullied them into paying me back. Took 6 months but I did manage to get paid back.

confused european noises

Does this even work? Will they even treat you or let you leave without ID?

Every time I hear about American healthcare it makes me appreciate the NHS that little bit more.

I went to the hospital for a cough (it was ultimately pneumonia). It was a holiday so Drs weren't open.

During intake they determined I was a "threat to myself and others", detained me, and drugged me.

They tried to make me foot the bill and sent me to collections without any prior notice months later.

I disputed it with credit. And explained the situation, how I was held against my will and how they exceeded the scope of care.

The credit bureau surprisingly sided with me and cleared my credit of any wrong doing.

I later found out that several American hospitals were needlessly drugging adolescents and it was a huge problem.

This is probably a bot, but also potentially someone in psychosis doing their psychosis shit.

Why? What benefit could I possibly have to keep my identity a secret in a hospital emergency? They need access to my NHS records so they know my medical history, blood type, current medications, etc.

They'd treat me regardless, but it would be very weird and suspicious if I didn't identify myself. They might even call the police because of it, because who does that?

In the USA, they care more about the health of your wallet than your health.

To any Euros reading this: yes, it's that bad. Even worse, most people call it "the best" system in the world.

This is counterproductive to my goals of having the most medical debt of any American to ever live and then die without paying. I'm playing for high score

I recently had my first medical emergency, and I'm in the USA. It actually is pretty abysmal.

In my case, I wasn't literally on death's door, but I had an injury that I could not stop the bleeding from (and obviously could not tell how bad things were).

So, the first responder was able to control the bleeding during the ambulance ride. And once that part was done, they moved right into the ID, billing info, and insurance info right there in the ambulance.

I still needed additional emergency care, of course. So, we arrive at the emergency room, they check my vitals, and then as soon as the nurse is done with that part, and before I received any treatment, they were asking me for the same ID, billing info, and insurance questions.

Even with insurance that costs nearly $1,000 USD a month, I had to pay entirely for the ambulance ride and the emergency room doctor's fees (both were classified as out of network), as well as the co-insurance (20% of the inflated "insurance" cost for treatment that was "in-network"), and so on.

So I can understand why this type of advice is going around.

On the other hand, if your emergency room visit requires follow-up care and/or prescription medication, giving false (or no) identifying information will complicated that part so I hope you have good black/grey market connections or a relative with a pharmacy's worth of old prescriptions they didn't finish.

Have you even considered public healthcare?

I mean, c'mon... No other country in in the world goes through that shit....

Last year I had to be taken to the hospital for an emergency and stayed for three days.
This is how much I was billed: