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.
i was in a car accident, of my own fault, and ended up going to the hospital in an ambulance where they checked me out found nothing wrong with me and released me straight to jail.
the hospital said i owed them $6000 for that and another $250 for the ambulance ride (this was a long time ago).
I never paid a dime of any of that. I got a lot of collection agency letters but i moved around a couple of times in the next two years and i think they just gave up.
Sometimes this is the way to go, but first look into what it takes to dodge collection agencies for the next three to six years. It’s a skill set and commitment that requires discipline. If they catch you off-guard, then at best the statute of limitations clock resets, and at worst you’ll have a court order for even more than your original debt.
oh damn, i never knew about court orders! never heard of that being a thing
That’s what can happen when they take you to court and you lose. Then the state may garner your wages or even seize you property. But usually, I think, people make a deal out of court.