On Apr 16, 3:40*pm, wrote:
On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:16:10 -0700 (PDT), jamesgangnc





wrote:
On Apr 16, 1:50*pm, wrote:
On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 10:16:17 -0700 (PDT), jamesgangnc

wrote:
Here's my question. *We all know that the present system can't go on
working. *We can't have 15% of the population not have some way to pay
for health care and at the same time pass laws that force hospitals to
care for them anyway. *That's like having a law that a restaurant has
to serve you even though you are obviously not going to pay. *Hey, you
could be starving. *Do both sides agree that what we have now isn't
going to go on working forever? *If so then at the end of the day
don't we really just have 2 options.

Option 1, figure out some way to get those people back into the system
with some minimal benefits as the rest of us.

Option 2, *no tickey, no laundry. *You can't pay the the hospital is
within it's rights to turn you away.

I'm not advocating one or the other with this post. *I'm just asking
at the 20,000 foot level is there a 3rd choice I'm missing?

Those people just got thrown back to the states in the Medicaid plan.
There was no federal money that went along with this (unless you are a
corn husker) . That is how this was "revenue neutral" for the feds. It
is the broke assed states who will be paying these bills. BTW there
are already plenty of hospitals and doctors who will not take Medicaid
patients unless they come in through the ER and even then, they just
stabilize and transport.
I know that a lot of hospitals simply don't have an ER, that
eliminates the problem.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Sure, there are loopholes that some hospitals use. *But eventually the
people end up getting treatment somewhere and can't pay for it.

So do you want # 1 or # 2? *Or do you see a # 3 I've missed. *And I
mean a #3 that isn't just a variation of 1 or 2.

I think the real solution is to get some cheaper care on the street
for routine and minor problems. You don't need 12 years of school to
fix a hangnail but it is illegal to do it.
If we are dumping 15 million under served people into the system we
need more practitioners today, not in 2022. I still suggest mining the
pool of former military medics.
If we would just come home from our mid east misadventures we would
have the perfect people to deal with the kind of injuries that come
into an inner city ER along with being the initial contact for the
normal ailments of life..- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

That trend is already happening. Most of these things like "minute
clinic" are staffed by nurse practictioners rather than drs. And even
when you see a dr a lot of triage has already been done by others so
that the dr doesn't need to waste time with the routine. You have an
injury and a dr might look at during the evaluation process but actual
treatment is often done by someone else.