In our rural area, this is one the the biggest problems we have. There are so many elderly people living in truly horrible conditions with little or no help or support system. Society really does abandon its old people. The sad part is that there is very little that we can actually do if there's no emergent issue. Even persuading the patient to take a ride to the hospital doesn't gain much. They're often home within 3 hours and get landed with a bill from the Ambulance service, a bill from the ED AND have to pay a taxi to get home if they don't have a family member. Many people don't have health insurance at all, and don't have regular healthcare to begin with. Many will not eat so that they can save money to buy their meds, or take their meds sparingly to afford food or heat. That's an additional complication with the lovely healthcare system in the US. The NHS may suck sometimes, but it does have some (minor) financial benefits to the patient.