What is a medical insurance coding specialist?

Is health insurance really required in USA before you can see any physician/specialist for medical check-up?

• I'm an Asian and is curious to know about the healthcare system process in USA. Is it really required for an American citizen to have a health insurance before one can see a physician/specialist for a medical check-up? What if it's emergency and the individual does not have any medical insurance (say unemployed)? See, my partner is an American but we would always argue as I'm worried about her condition and she would say that she can't see a doctor without an insurance and the case is she's currently unemployed and has no personal health insurance on-hand. I wan't to understand this better, can someone share some knowledge about such matter? Thanks in advance!

• Answer:

  No, its not required. Ive never had medical insurance and never had a problem seeing doctors, dentists, specialists etc Perhaps she may have found a single doctor who only wants health insurance, but in my experience the overwhelming majority of them may accept insurance, but they usually prefer cash- so to find another doctor who is more flexible should not be a problem at all. If you dont know the doctor, when you call to make an appointment you ask how much the bill will be and what forms of payment they accept such as cash, check, credit/debit card etc because it is expected to pay at the time of service. An emergency situation takes place in a hospital and is usually unexpected and difficult to judge the cost of ahead of time. In these cases they will treat you without payment and afterwards will just mail you the bill with a phone number included so you can call and make the payment arrangements.