Kent, I was going to affirm that emergency rooms in the US accept and treat walkin or hauled in patients. I understand that many of the ER bills are never paid- at least, that is the rationale we hear as to why hospital care is so expensive.

FWIW, my local hospital does something that I had never heard of: the patient pays a surcharge of $856.00 for each admission. In other words, if you are released after being kept overnight and then find that you have to come back again, that night or later, you will be charged the $856.00 AGAIN. That's on top of the normal charges. And it is not covered by Medicare or most other insurance plans.

Kent, you say: "I have have many patients who had to take a drug twice daily instead of a more expensive once-daily extended release form, many who had to take two separate drugs instead of a more-expensive combination pill, many who had to take a "good enough" drug instead of the best drug on the market but, so far, I have NEVER had a patient who simply could get needed medication. "

I've been trying to unravel that sentence, and so far I've concluded that you mean "have NEVER had a patient who simply could NOT get needed medication."

Would you clarify?