A funny thing happened on the way to the hospital

Imagine this, because this is what happened to me today when I had to go the Marin General Hospital:

A young man, convulsing, holding a $2.99 Ikea garbage can he was throwing up in arrived in the ER.
"Excuse me, sir. You need to register before we can help you." The Insurance registration desk clerk said. The pale man crawled up to the desk but took another break to puke first. The man at the desk sat calmly and asked him for his ID so he could register his insurance before admitting the patient.
The man registering the patient looked too calm...as if he is used to this type of procedure. Before the man could be admitted to the hospital he needed to sign a waiver claiming he is has insurance for emergency coverage. The man begged to be served as he slurred that he thought his esophagus was torn. The man registering him paid little attention and he organized his papers and proceeded to file his documents. It was a good 15 minutes before that poor puking man was given any type of medical attention. He even drove himself to the hospital in his half conscious state because he probably couldn't remember whether the fine print of his insurance covered ambulance rides or not.
This is an eye witness story I observed while sitting in the waiting room of one of the best hospitals in the U.S.
This is America...no coverage....no service....no chance of survival.

This is atrocious. As a recent patient of both American and Canadian hospitals I found absolutely no difference between the quality of care each country delivered. The only difference I found is that the American hospital will not even address you as a human being, let alone a patient, before guaranteeing you can pay for your emergency care.
This is not right. Not then, not now, not ever. Health care is a human right, not a privilege.