Vic Smith wrote:
On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:48:30 -0400, HK wrote:
Vic Smith wrote:
On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:01:56 -0400, wrote:
That is the part they don't want to talk about. People expect the same
level of service but they deny how much it will cost. If you add
41,000,000 uninsured to the system, at the same level of service,
overall cost will go up by a proportional amount. If you assume a
significant number of these families can't afford $8,000-10,000 a
year, that will get passed along to those who can. Even Obama is out
there trying to tell people this is not going to be "free" medical
care, but they won't actually put real numbers to it.
I've heard the Reps say that there "EVERYBODY ALREADY HAS HEALTH
CARE!!" Nobody is turned away from the emergency room.
*That* is absolutely bull****.
Must not be getting publicized if it's happening.
Last time I heard about it was in late '80's, under Bush I.
A young guy - early 20's I think - went to an E-room in Tennessee or
Kentucky. Indigent, and diabetic. Needed a shot of insulin.
Hospital had seen him before, and the claims boss told a nurse crew
to put him in the local park. He was a deadbeat.
They propped him under a tree, where he died a bit later.
Passers-by found him there.
Smile on his face probably, leaves mirrored in the faded light of his
eyes.
Not a bad way to go, under a tree. The hospital gets kudos for that
touch. There was probably a dumpster closer by.
--Vic
It's a wonderfully kept secret. The uninsured are underserved. Many
hospitals have shut down their ER's just so they don't have to deal with
indigent patients. Others deliberately make the indigent sit in waiting
rooms for hours and hours, in the hope they'll leave. And if they do get
seen and happen to have a really serious ailment, they'll get minimal
attention, treatment and medication.
Many of the newly jobless and now newly without health care insurance
haven't yet qualified for medicaid, and they may not qualify at all for
several reasons.
The safety net that used to help the poor was pretty much ripped asunder
when community owned hospitals gave way to make room for private,
for-profit hospitals, or were turned into the latter. There's something
really repugnant about the sorts of profits insurance and pharma
companies earn in this country. There are very few other places on earth
where such is tolerated.
Your "diabetic case" refers to patient dumping. It's common.
--
The modern GOP is little more than an army of moral absolutists led by a
gang of moral nihilists.