“I listened to the countless stories of Orleans and Jefferson Parish citizens whose health care costs are exploding – if they are able to obtain health care at all.”
One of the largest hospitals in New Orleans is devoted primarily to indigent care. This is an outright lie to say that citizens of Orleans and Jefferson are unable to obtain heathcare. Look at the numbers:
Inpatient Days
55,500 adult/pediatric inpatient days (including ICU)
6,782 psychiatric inpatient days
1,744 neonatal ICU inpatient days
2,289 nursery inpatient days
Outpatients
147,216 outpatient encounters
46,628 ED encounters
71,505 outpatient clinic visits
Resources
2,446 employees
Total Collections: $339.4 million
State General Fund: $48.743 million
Medicaid: $68.296 million
Uncompensated Care: $154.441 million
Medicare: $21.176 million
Medicare Cost Reports: $6.177 million
Commercial/Private Pay: $23.164 million
Misc. Self Generated $17.425 million
Out of a total of over $339 million spent on treatment, only $23 million was paid for by private insurance. $154 million in services is given away for free with no Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement.
Here is the website to see the numbers for yourself:
http://www.lsuhospitals.org/Hospitals/MCLNO/MCLNO-Profile.htm
That has been one of the biggest lies ever touted by those trying to push socialism down our throats: that people can’t get health care if they don’t have insurance!! That is patently false as I know from both personal experience and the experience of friends. They get care just like anyone else does - the best! They just get a bigger bill afterwards... can’t believe some are so greedy that they are willing to sell their liberty birthright in exchange for the government to wipe their behinds!! Disgusting!!