Well, not if you need treatment. If you're poor, yes you won't pay anything because the hospital won't bother to bill anyone. But if you need surgery and have no insurance or medicade, there are cases of doctors sending you home, waiting for sepsis and then amputating, because it's cheaper and takes less resources.
Extremely poor people may not pay for care, but be assured that in America, they get no where near the same level of care.
And if you're poor and have cancer? Most other western countries will give you a chance.
There is a much deeper problem relating directly to this topic. Transportation. Access to real transpiration is THE BIGGEST FACTOR in escaping poverty.
Uber isn't public transportation. A train is about $2 ~ $3 in most cities. In an Uber that would be a $10 ~ $20 ride. Multiply that by 7 days a week to and from work, and there simply is no comparison. Many cities have discounted fare cards for the poor as well. The structure of American cities hurts the poor.
> And if you're poor and have cancer? Most other western countries will give you a chance
Cancer is probably the worst example you could pick to prove your point. It turns out that the US system is highly-optimized for specialized care (which happens to include cancer), as opposed to routine care. That's one of the reasons it ends up being more expensive.
In fact, even when including poor and uninsured people in the mix, the US has dramatically better outcomes when it comes to cancer treatment than the UK, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, etc.
> How do you get an improved outcome for cancer if you can't afford treatment?
You're missing the point, which is that the number of people who die from cancer that would otherwise have been treatable except for their ability to afford it is actually quite low. And the US does much, much better at treating cancer overall. Which is why the overall cancer survival rates in the US are drastically higher, even though a small number of people may not be able to afford treatment..
(You're also assuming that people are able to receive cancer treatment in countries like the UK, which is actually not a foregone conclusion. Assuming it's even diagnosed properly - the UK in particular is really notorious for cancer misdiagnoses - they may actually not be eligible for having their treatment covered under the NHS, even though their cancer may otherwise medically be treatable, either in other countries or if they can self-fund it in the UK).
Extremely poor people may not pay for care, but be assured that in America, they get no where near the same level of care.
And if you're poor and have cancer? Most other western countries will give you a chance.
There is a much deeper problem relating directly to this topic. Transportation. Access to real transpiration is THE BIGGEST FACTOR in escaping poverty.
Uber isn't public transportation. A train is about $2 ~ $3 in most cities. In an Uber that would be a $10 ~ $20 ride. Multiply that by 7 days a week to and from work, and there simply is no comparison. Many cities have discounted fare cards for the poor as well. The structure of American cities hurts the poor.