The slip and fall analogy is deceptive. Someone with an acute injury would receive treatment at a public hospital. In most states, private hospitals do reserve the right to turn away uninsured patients with non life threatening injuries. There is no guarantee, however, that the treatment provided would be a prompt hip surgery. The better question is what happens to the uninsured person with a degenerative condition requiring hip replacement? Unless they are poor enough to qualify for Medicare the answer is "they limp". Their waiting time would be, oh, forever?