15. The Emergency Room

The emergency room is an entirely separate unit of the hospital, set up to handle people with an injury or condition that may cause death, disability, or serious illness if not treated promptly.

The person who greets you in an emergency room will have two questions: Do you have insurance? What is the matter? If you do not have insurance and are unable to pay, any hospital that operates a twenty-four-hour-a-day emergency service must still give you emergency care. It does not, however, have to provide follow-up care; and a private hospital has the right, if you cannot pay, to transfer you to a public hospital once you have, received the initial emergency care.

If you do have medical insurance, bring your identification cards with you. It's also a good idea to bring a friend, because the hassle of the emergency room may be more than you can bear alone.

In the hospital, those who get immediate care are usually heart attack cases, women about to give birth, and those with severe bleeding. The rest wait.

15.1 Fees

Don't be shocked by emergency room fees. In large metropolitan hospitals they can be as much as fifty dollars plus charges for such things as X rays. Check your insurance to see if it covers all or a portion of emergency care costs so that you'll be prepared.