Thank you for being so understanding.
She didn't know. She thought she had a cold. She didn't go to urgent care because, first of all she couldn't afford to, and secondly, she had a job and thus unless she lied about that, they would have charged her full pop. She was more or less a minimum wage earner and had not worked long enough at her new job to "qualify" for the company health plan (something she would not have to do under the Schwartzenegger plan).
She tried to treat this thing honestly by getting over the counter medication and not going to the emergency room under an assumed name. But, even if she had gone to the doctor, and they discovered her pneumonia, that would not have solved her dilemma. If the doctors had caught it, it would have bankrupted her family because they would have had to hospitalize her for a couple of weeks. Instead she kept on working until the pneumonia got so bad her heart stopped.
Maybe her family should be glad that she didn't burden them with a big hospital bill and instead was thoughtful enough to just drop dead and save everyone a lot of money.
Don't know what Urgent Care centers you are taking about, but they are available in my neck of California for about $75./visit, and some have a coupon in the Yellow Pages! Generally I am tired of the excuses and lack of personal responsibility, anyone who isn't 100% disabled and can't put a thousand bucks in the bank for office visits/checkups and get a high deductible insurance plan/medical saving account just isn't trying. http://www.opm.gov/hsa/ Minimum wage in Calif, is what now, like $15,600.?? They can't afford ANY health care out of that?
If you're sick...YOU TAKE CARE OF IT AND WORRY ABOUT HOW YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR IT LATER. You can make payments, you can take a loan, you can borrow from your friends and family, you can declare bankruptcy. My God, she had children. Sorry, I'm sure she was a nice lady...but she was short on common sense.
No. all it takes is a Cipro, or similar prescription and bedrest. That's it.
"going to the emergency room under an assumed name."
No one has to go to the emergency room under an assumed name.
I'm usually more sympathetic than the next guy, but this story sounds weird. Pnuemonia (sp) knocks you on your butt, and you feel like you are going to die (had it once). It does NOT feel like a cold. She should have gone ANYWHERE to get checked out. I'm not trying to be unkind, but the problem here wasn't that she wasn't insured, it's that she didn't seek medical attention at all. Kind of like Jim Henson.
My nephew had his tonsils out which involved a hospital stay, his parents were uninsured at the time. They applied for and got some type of assistance where they didn't pay A PENNY!
Helping the poor get medical attention is the job of the Church, not the government.
That's real sad, but please. When she didn't get well after two weeks, she should have known she had more than a cold. There are free clinics in every city in this state. Some ask for a small donation. Doctors donate their time, and resident doctors work in them under the supervision of a full-fledged physician.
They wouldn't necessarily have had to hospitalize her. I've had it at least five times and was never hospitalized. Hospitalization for pneumonia is for small children and the elderly. If hers went on until it caused her heart to stop, she may already have had some heart failure from a defective heart or drugs or alcohol abuse, or a compromised immune system.
I'm sure there's more to the story behind her death besides not having resources.
If she has family as you say, they should take her kids in instead of putting them on state aid.
"She didn't know. She thought she had a cold. She didn't go to urgent care because, first of all she couldn't afford to, and secondly, she had a job and thus unless she lied about that, they would have charged her full pop."
Years ago I was broke, with no health care, and I had what i thought was a bad flu, turns out it was pnuemonia and bronchitus. I went to the emergency room, got xrayed, got a prescription, and cured it in a week. Cost me $300, which I paid off in installments, and when i called the billing department, they discounted the bills significantly, because i had no insurance. The only thing I paid full for was the drugs, but I got generics, and they were $30 I think.
Not ONCE did they ask me if I had a job, the only thing they wanted to know was if I had insurance - and when i said I did'nt, they still treated me.
"She was more or less a minimum wage earner and had not worked long enough at her new job to "qualify" for the company health plan (something she would not have to do under the Schwartzenegger plan)."
I'm sure amongst the millions of Californians, you can find a few cases like this that pull at the heartstrings and seem to demand this plan, but we *also* have to look at ALL of the implications of this plan, and it's long-term cost. Yes, it's cold hearted, but you don't run down the valley with this flag, if doing so will utterly and completely bankrupt the state.
"She tried to treat this thing honestly by getting over the counter medication
and not going to the emergency room under an assumed name."
An assumed name is NOT required, and I would question why she felt she needed one - whoever put THAT idea in her mind should be ashamed if not outright jailed for helping to create such a horribly wrong picture of her options.
Hospitals will bend over backwards to allow you to pay for healthcare if you're sick, and in this case, paying off the bill over a few years made a lot more sense than dying and abandoning her children. That's heartbreaking that she was so scared of healthcare that she felt her course was the best case. I wish i could have known her, so she knew the reality of getting help, and it's not boogyman she seems to have been scared of - and I wish I knew the people who told her the worng things they did, because I'd like to deck them.
"But, even if she had gone to the doctor, and they discovered her pneumonia, that would not have solved her dilemma. If the doctors had caught it, it would have bankrupted her family because they would have had to hospitalize her for a couple of weeks."
Hospitalized for pneumonia? I've never heard of anyone hospitalized for that - I was sent home that day, the only concern they had was that I get a taxi or have someone pick me up. Bed space is extremely limited these days, I highly doubt they would admit her for *weeks* for phneumonia, when they don't even keep hip replacement cases that long.
"Instead she kept on working until the pneumonia got so bad her heart stopped."
I'm sorry she died. I truly am. But this is a case of her being poorly educated in her options, and the people around her who fostered her fear of seeking treatment should examine themselves and stop making people afraid of healthcare. I know of several doctors who take patients "on the side", for those without insurance, and will help those in need. My old dentist did the same, because she'd rather see people not have their teeth rot away than avoid treatment, and she heavily discounted for those without insurance.
"Maybe her family should be glad that she didn't burden them with a big hospital bill and instead was thoughtful enough to just drop dead and save everyone a lot of money."
Maybe you should stop making such a big guilt-trip in her name, hmm? This is a huge issue that will effect millions, could possibly bankrupt the state, and has far reaching implications that are *important* to be looked at seriously and in depth, and while her case is a tragedy, it's not enough to demand what Arnie is proposing. My heart goes out to the poor woman, but she died not because of lack or refusal of healthcare, but because she was mis-informed. The healthcare was there for her, all she needed to do was have a doctor look at her and possibily a chest x-ray, and then some medicine. She could have gotten ALL of that, but her FEAR kept her from it, and that's the real tragedy.
The people that told her she had to lie about having a job, or use a fake name, those people are the ones you can blame for her death.