Should Taxpayers Pay for Medical Bills for Korean Man Who Fell Off of Grand Canyon Cliff?
I feel bad for the family in this case, but I think people do have a legitimate argument that taxpayers shouldn’t be responsible for the medical costs:
Whether the government should financially support an individual who fell from a cliff at the Grand Canyon and is currently in a coma is drawing a mixed reaction.
Korea Times
On Dec. 30, 2018, a 25-year-old man surnamed Park fell off the cliff and was transferred to a hospital. Although he survived physically, he is still unconscious.
His medical bill at the Flag Staff Medical Center is now over 1 billion won ($ 885,347), and his family wants him to be brought back to Korea, which will cost an additional 200 million won.
“If the duty of citizen is to do their duty to the state, the state’s responsibility is to protect its countrymen, even one,” stated a post written by Park’s uncle on the Cheong Wa Dae website for a petition which has received more than 19,000 signatures.
However, the post faced a huge backlash with people saying the government should not provide any financial support.
You can read the rest at the link, but the family is blaming the tour guide for the fall. I have been to the Grand Canyon many times and there are areas without safety fences, however you have to be doing something stupid to fall off the cliff.
Where was Commie Moon when this poor lad fell? We’re going to need to see his phone records and schedule for the day.
Yes! We pay for all illegal aliens, so why not. Congress thinks it’s a moral obligation. The costs are passed on to the hospitals, the hospitals pass it on to the Insurance Companies and the Insurance Companies pass it on to their Clients.
Options:
There is traveller’s health insurance. Was this offered to the family and declined? Certainly, a good journalist can research and find such a document or email with such a declination. If so, it’s all on the family.
It’s quite possible AZ has an indignant fund they could apply for. I say this because…
(I know CO has one. My barely adult daughter used it to cover a $50K ER visit/emergency surgery/one week stay. She applied and qualified for the fund; she paid zilch. Then again, she was/is a valid CO state resident.)
Certainly the Korean Consulate has access to some misc. fund (or insurance rider) that can be applied in such an instance. Be creative.
He was returning to Korea the next day. Maybe he was trying to fly out early.
Correction: indigent’s fund (not indignant). See, I can publish a correction; why can’t CNN?
Am I the only one who thinks the issue is that KOREAN taxpayers don’t want to pay and it has nothing to do with America paying (although it likely will)?
Bonus: the “Flag Staff Medical Center” is actually the Flagstaff Medical Center… as in Flagstaff, Arizona.
If a “reporter” can’t accurately report a basic 3 (or 4) word name that is easily available, perhaps even obvious, how are they expected to accurately report more complex issues that might involve such things as verbs?
Koreans are lining up to go to the US, fake an ankle injury and rape US taxpayers.
CH, I thought it was clear from the article that the current Korean Government doesn’t want to pay for the defense or treatment of its citizens.
In today’s issue of Grand Canyon Gymnastics…
Action starts at 0:40 followed by a slo-mo if you want to see a pike followed by a half-twist, and a double layout.
He drops out of frame but I presume he did not nail the landing.
Feel sorry for him… but, yeah, he was WAAAAY out in the Brought It on Myself Zone.
Couple that with his parents own a medium-sized business and live in Richville… so not a lot of pity from some sectors of Korean society.
Of course a million dollar hospital bill is kinda crazy from everyone’s point of view… so not a lot of pity if the hospital gets stiffed from some sectors of Korean society.
All-in-all, this should serve as a warning for Koreans to be careful, hospitals to be reasonable, and healthcare to get an overhaul.
But it won’t.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8FXaHhdICk&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3HxDrYSClZgnsV7FY5Rju-cGuwZFBntNlWsIo1Z1Tg-fzTcKQO_6NeMjE