How bad is it in America? - Breaking an arm among the 30M without health care (VDH on Health Care)

VictorHanson.com ^ | March 13, 2004 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Remember_Salamis]

How bad is it in America?

I broke my arm last week and went into the emergency room at our local hospital about 24 hours after a Sunday morning accident. My family doctor told me to go to the ER first to get an x-ray and then take it over to his office later that Monday afternoon.

[Remember_Salamis]

Victor Davis Hanson is simply a great American. I've read 4 of his books and read everything of his I can get my hands on.

[traumer]

I have no cellphone, no cable TV, no pickup truck or SUV. That's a cliche....

I have an 11-year old reliable Honda and no health insurance. Now, where do I fit in your 'scheme' ?

[janetgreen]

Hanson is describing the situation that exists in almost every hospital emergency room in California. My family has had the same experiences. Needless to say, many of these facilities have been forced to close their doors.

We simply cannot afford to treat and medicate illegal aliens any longer, but there isn't a word said about it by our cowardly politicians.

[Agnes Heep]

Interesting points raised here. When government provides health care free of charge, poor people will elect to take the free service and spend their discretionary dollars in discretionary ways, on luxuries as opposed to necessities. I recall a "poor" family in my locality complaining about the Gingrich "cuts" in the school lunch program, stating to the local newspaper that they couldn't afford to give their children lunch without the program. Of course they never mentioned the sixty or so bucks a month they spent on cable TV.

[Mamzelle]

An ER happens to be an effective and efficient way to treat the uninsured and the underinsured. A communitiy that makes sensible support of its ER is a community where the poor get medical care. This is something you never hear talked about--the cliche is that you must, at all costs, try to keep people from using the emergency room--the ER can work to let off a lot of pressure on the health care system as a whole.

That being said, there are now new pressures that will bring the system quickly to its knees. We cannot treat the poor of Mexico, for instance, through our ERs. We have to allow the boards of the hospitals some "safe harbor" in its decision making, lest it forever choose the most expensive answer to every question to avoid lawsuits (or to create "good faith" defenses for the courtroom).

Otherwise, it'll shut down.

[Tripleplay]

In some of America's most impoverished landscapes, our government at great cost and in the hallowed traditions of American humanity and magnanimity is offering hourly excellent medical care to literally anyone who walks through the emergency room door, whether they have a broken arm or a sprained ankle. That is how it should be

Why?????????????????????

A lot of other goods and services rely on individual behavior and legal status to determine price.

Why is the health care industry any different?

[bilhosty]

A hospital is a place where all people should be treated. If they are illegal and cannot afford to pay then they should be treated and returned to there native country.

[Proud_texan]

Is there a reason you don't have health insurance you'd like to share with us?

[Dianna]

I have an 11-year old reliable Honda and no health insurance. Now, where do I fit in your 'scheme' ?

If you broke your arm, would you be refused care? If you were bleeding to death, would hospitals turn you away?

The point is that we are being constantly bashed because some people have no health insurance as though that indicates that they get no health CARE.

[snopercod]

...the hallowed traditions of American humanity and magnanimity

Well, not exactly. The federal government requires that anyone who shows up at an ER be treated, regardless of their ability to pay.

Not only do we taxpayers foot the bill for that service, but all those with insurance pay for it as well via higher premiums.

[KC_for_Freedom]

When government provides health care free of charge, poor people will elect to take the free service

It canbe worse than the article describes. In one neighborhood in CA, an immigrant called in a "chocking" call about once a month and had emergency teams from the fire dept and ambulance respond and provide oxygen. In this case, if some one would have provided free O2 services, this guy would stop calling on the really expensive emergency services.

The solution is to allow US investment in Mexico with increasing medical school development so that Mexicans can live and thrive in Mexico. Honestly, Vincente should be ashamed that his people have to come here for their medical care.

[Capriole]

I dunno. A friend of mine doesn't have health care because he is spending all his money and then some to pay for insurance for his little girl, who is in the physical custody of her mother. He was injured recently and learned that he has to have a $1500 MRI and subsequent surgery. He is walking around with a broken arm, nerve damage, and a rotator-cuff tear, all of which is terribly painful, because he is spending every spare nickel on child support and doesn't have the $1500 bucks. He's already getting dunning letters and threats of court action from the emergency room and ER physicians' group who treated him (or mis-treated him) when he was initially injured.

[rockrr]

"I have no cellphone, no cable TV, no pickup truck or SUV. That's a cliché...."

Although it can be used as a cliché, these were illustrations of a mis-placed set of priorities in these folk's lives.
The point increasingly is...why bother to take responsibility for yourself if someone else will willingly do so for you?
Oh, and BTW: I couldn't find affordable health insurance, so, when I injured my arm last year, I paid the bill in cash.

[Kozak]

Perhaps there was a general sense then among those waiting for the doctor that while the government does not provide new cars or cell phones it really does, after all, extend free health care.

Not exactly. The government MANDATES treatment. PAYMENT is the hospital and doctors problem. When the amount of indigents reaches a big enough number, you see a decline in quality and amount. Hospitals cannot pour endless resources into an area that loses money. ER's around the country are in crisis as their volumes go up and up, and the recourses neccesary to care for the patients is not keeping pace. In addition, there are less and less beds and nurses in the hospitals to admit those patients to as well, THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH. Specialists don't want to be on ER call because all it means for them is more work with little hope of getting paid, and a higher liability as these are frequently the same people who won't follow instructions but will sue if they have a bad outcome.

[IncPen]

Like you were saying, BartMan...

[mtbopfuyn]

At least the medical personnel at his hospital spoke and understood English. Heck, I'd even settle for Spanish since I live in TX, but when the only county hospital employs ME'ers who don't/won't speak English they're waiting for a lawsuit large enough to put the entire county into bankruptcy.

[Tinman]

What this article does not address is the situation my wife and I have been dealing with for the past several years. U.S. citizens who face medical emergencies without health insurance, not by choice but because coverage has been lost and/or denied, due to "pre-existing conditions".

In January 2001, I went to the emergency room with severe abdominal pain (that I'd been "dealing with", off and on for 3-4 months). The result? Emergency surgery, 10 days in the hospital, and medical bills totaling almost $90,000. Then, being unable to work for three months. Bills had to go unpaid. Credit damaged.

Eleven months ago, my wife went to the emergency room with chest pain (which she had been "dealing with", for a year or so.) Result? Emergency (triple) by-pass surgery, two weeks in the hospital, over $300,000 in medical bills and 12 weeks of recuperation, unable to work.

We were just getting back on track, when at the end of October, she suffered a near fatal heart attack, while at work. Result? hospitalized for 10 days, a defib device implanted, and an additional $175,000 in bills. Job lost, credit ruined.

How are we handling all this? We get up every day and we do the best we can. I still have my wife. We still have our home. We are able to meet most of our " necessities". There's nothing left over. In time, we may be able to repair our credit and pay the doctors, who saved my wife's life.

Do I wish things were different? Of course I do. We live in a city (El Paso) where thousands access our medical facilities with no intention of ever paying a dime. At least my wife and I pay into the "system" and have for years.

We know there are thousands, or millions, who are worse off than we are. It just needs to be pointed out, not all people who don't pay their medical bills are freeloading deadbeats. Some simply cannot.

Regards

[eccentric]

The title, like most of the reporting, IS WRONG. Lack of health insurance does NOT mean no health care.

[Feckless]

I work in a small rural hospital and whether it's illegal immigrants or hometown white trash most of our ER visits could be handled at the local drug store. Instead of buying OTC meds they buy their smokes, premium beer, and lotto, then run up a $200 ER visit for $5 worth of drugs.

[janetgreen]

If they are illegal and cannot afford to pay then they should be treated and returned to there native country.

You're right, but this isn't being done. Hospitals and schools in CA can't even ask about immigration status, and hardly anyone ever gets deported for any reason. The result is overburdened schools, hospitals and prisons, and we cannot continue to pay for it because the numbers are in the millions, with more coming every day.