Reply #16: I was in that position once, swore I would never be again.

[uppityperson]

Do I take my child to the ER and have a huge bill, or walk around in the cool air and see if the croup stops? Being a health care provider I went for a walk, feeling I knew enough to get help asap if it didn't help or got worse. But it REALLY pissed me off that I would have to consider the choice.

SERIOUSLY pissed me off. Why the HELL should ANYONE EVER have to come up against such a choice? And don't give me "free clinic or ER" stuff since there was no free clinic and walking into an ER with a child would run me $500+ just to sign the papers.

Don't give me "negligent parent" bs about my doing this because you don't know my situation.

It should not EVER have to be a decision but it is. "so what if you'd owed $10,000, isn't your kid worth that?" Yes, my kid is. But waiting until it got bad enough, or not. Having to wait and see rather than being able to just take the kid in. Why? rhetorical question.