Shocker! Uninsured not jamming emergency rooms

who can afford an emergency room. took my husband last spring because he had difficulty breathing for about a week, he came home from work and could not breath at all, good thing the hospital is a mile away. costed over $500. and we had to apply for help paying for it, yeah right, $70. worth of help. He will not go back now even if he really needed it because we can not pay it.

 

Wow, yours was cheap.

I went in because I had a severe fluid build up in my lungs and was coughing so much I was passing out. I sat there for an hour on in the room (passed out twice) and then was givin breathing treatments and two shots. The total bill- $1158 and change. Just for the emergency room visit ($800).

 

In the next town, with the better hospital, it costs $500. just to walk in the door. A simple visit, with no tests can cost $1,000 easy.
Cheap or not, it's still more then we have.

 

I am holding the bill from our last ER visit. My wife had a kidney stone while we were out of town. First they refused to treat her, then they accused her of being a junkie looking for pain pills, then they finally gave her the pills and kicked us out because they needed the room for someone "really sick." We drove 2 hours home and straight to her urologist.

Total ER bill - $2690.12

We do have insurance so that will help.

 

I believe we need single-payer universal health care, but I'm not going to hold my breath until we have it.

 

Well I believe we need comprehensive tort reform. If we could get the lawyers, accountants and insurance agents out of the formula I could afford to pay the doctor. But I ain't holding my breath either Robert.

 

Just for the record, I wasn't saying yours was not so bad but that between our two bills I would have chosen yours

And we don't have insurance, well actaully my kids do, so we pay cash. Praise God we have given good advise early on to keep a medical fund in which we place some money from each paycheck into that fund. God has always made sure that it was exactly what was needed when an event transpired that required a hospital visit or medicines.

 

The between what hospitals charge for the same service is amazing - the differences can be 50-100%. Except for Maryland (where the charges are filed with the state), hospitals can pretty much charge what they want.

 

This is what everyone is afraid to say at the summits. The cost for the doctors malpractice insurance is killing us. Not to mention the $100 aspirin and god help you if you need an xray.


Rev, to your OP... Here, we have one Hospital that will take patients with no insurance. It's the City hospital. You have to be dying to get in one of the others with no insurance and all they will do is hook you to support and ship you off to the city. If you're real close to dying, you might get flight for life to the city hospital.

 

And its not just killing us in costs, it is driving many doctors out of practice or out of states without some kind of protection. Thanks to John Edwards we don't have any obstetricians left in my part of North Carolina. The effects of frivolous lawsuits make it unprofitable for them to practice in NC.

The good news is I live close enough to Georgia we can drive there. But once BO takes this national it won't be enough to drive to a different state, we will have to go to another country to get treated. Looks like our only long term hope is to plant some herb gardens and go back to treating each other with stump water and hazel root. Course it seems to me a lot more people died back then.

 

The only time I will go to a doctor or to the emergency room is if I feel that I am in a "Life & Death" situation, in an extreme amount of pain (like an ear infection), or if I'm sick for longer than three days (which rarely happens).

I went to the doctor's office to have an ear infection treated. I asked the office if my insurance is accepted, they said that it was. So I had them schedule my appointment. The doctor took care of what I needed & prescribed medication. I also paid my $15.00 co-payment. About a month & a half ago, the doctor's office sent me a bill. I contacted my insurance company & they told me that The doctor's office accepted my insurance, but that doctor wasn't covered by my insurance. I thought that was extremely ridiculous.:BangHead:

When you are paying for insurance, it shouldn't matter what doctor you go to or what hospital you go to. In any case, I'll pay my doctor's bill. However, they are going to have to take a number & get in line. I've got other bills & debt that has to be taken care of first.

 

Insurance or not, if you're not carried in on a gurney, you'll most likely have a long wait.

Too many people take their kids there for the sniffles.

The worst thing you can do is just walk in.

 

No way in the world dowe need Universal health care. If you needto see a doctor Universal health care will have you waiting for months and I mean months. If you have soething like cancer, you will not be able to get treatment wuickly nough. In addition if a person has heart disease and they are over 70 they will not receive the mediial care because they will thought of as too old.

 

For minor emergencies, the best thing you can do is go to an urgent care center not an emergency room. UCCs are usually faster and cheaper than hospitals' ERs. Also, many hospitals now have set up UCCs around the suburbs to help offset the influx into the ER rooms.

 

Yes some died 'back then' but many lived from those generations into ripe old age: Child hood diseases got the young who were too weak to fight 'em off, but most lived through the usual child hood diseases. Menigitis, rehumatic fever, and scarlet fever were the real dreads....... diseases now fought with antibiotics.... but measles, mumps, chicken pox in the young were mostly an inconvience for parents and temporarily disabling and uncomfortable for a child. Rarely one would hear of complications which caused problems with sight or hearing or weak heart....... or later infertility, but these were not as common as some would have us to fear. Death as a complication of child bearing wasn't uncommon (hemorrhage and toxic shock). Pneumonia, TB, and out breaks of disease like polio and flu with complications, were scourges of the general population: But one didn't hear of all the chronic diseases or cancer like one does today.

As for herbal medicines and the knowledge of doctors and nurses, mid-wives and families, who utilized herbs and nutrition and other therapies such as poultices, warm packs, cold sponge baths, moist heat, vaporisers and wraps....... these and instructions on when and when not to use them.... which was passed on as 'folklore' is now being gradually censored and removed from the shelves of book stores.

The FDA, is protecting both the practice of medicine and the pharmaceutical companies by closing down those manufacturers of herbs and supplements and the retailers, whenever they see a violation statement claiming that something may be of benefit for certain ailments and symptoms. (Daniel Chapter 1 is an herbal/ supplement company now under attack.) This is supposedly to help us and save us from making snake oil decisions which delay 'real' medical treatment and are worthless and expensive, and may not be pure. While there's good arguement for that..... there is also good argument for one's right to decide for one's self what works for them and to choose whether to treat themselves or see a doctor.

Some people think we don't need that right....... but yet these same folks visit the over-the-counter phamaceuticals to treat their own symptoms of cough and cold, tummy ache or constipation, head aches, fevers, and achey joints and muscles, or antiseptics and ointments for scrapes and cuts and insect bites. For every doctor that claims that supplements aren't needed..... there are other doctors which recommend a multi-vitamin a day will do no harm, and still others that take vitamins, minerals and other supplements as they think helpful, and a few which peddle their preferred brands to patients: Some very conventional doctors who have knowledge of 'folk' remedies, may resort to using them when they have a resitant case which is non responding to modern medicine..... and sometimes find success which the traditional home remedy.

Invasion of home and privacy by societal agencies and judgement: While some areas of personal decisions regarding health care are made in the home and often based upon budgetary constraints, we are already seeing that others are getting involved in decisions being made by parents. If a child has symptoms of illness and a parent chooses to try and treat at home, but the child dies or is injured as the result of illness, then there is almost an immediate assumption of neglect because the parents did not seek professional treatment. Not everyone in the medical profession is so unfeeling as to assume this charge..... but all are bound by recent laws which give very little levway to reporting any suspicion or appearance or what may construed by others as 'appearance' of neglect or abuse. As if this isn't enough to be of concern, the medical attendants which assists the doctors are under the same reporting requirements..... so if a doctor fails to 'do his duty' by failing to report suspicion of failing (neglect) to properly obtain medical treatment, any on his staff might do so...... which then places him in jeapordy for not reporting.... as well as parents under the examining eyes of professional and public and agencies.

That God intended for individuals to have the freedom to exercise these choices..... and gave responsibilities for choices to the parents first and foremost as to the decisions of care, instruction and raising of their children.... I have no doubt. It is Biblical. But we are seeing the state invade and interfere more and more with the decision making processes and rights of individuals and families. And, as it takes on this responsibility, it neglects, or is, or will prove to be, inadequate to meet its own obligations of assistance in meeting its own health care vs neglect requirements.

 

As best as I can tell in this jungle of bad grammar and spelling is that you disagree. Do you have any proof of the things you allege?

 

Hey there Snow boy, Chill out! Personal attack unnecessary and derogatory.

These are merely typos:laugh: Not withstanding, it is reasonable to ask for proof.
If you can't read it then skip it......

Else wise how many times must we forgive a brother or a sister that offends thee? Beyond measure!

 

here you go: our future.

CBSNEWS source (hardly "right-wing").

Among the scary slipshot travesties in how we've treated our veterans (revealed by an inspection of VA procedures by its Inspector General and CBS):

• 16,000 pieces of unopened mail at its Detroit office. Another 132 documents which belonged in veterans' claim files ended up in the shred bins at four regional offices.
• The inspector general reviewed 390 claims submitted to the New York office and found that 220 of them - more than half - had been deliberately misdated to make it look like claims were being processed faster than they really were.
• Whatever you do, don't ever move. Many vets move, and their records are lost in transit.
• A ridiculous, antiquated, redundant, red-tape laden system overwhelms workers with paperwork...160 million pages a year - and as a result, some workers cut corners, falsify records, or just plain screw up.

Therefore, this begs the question...The government has had a shot at doing healthcare, and they are much worse than private industry. Why would we want them to be in charge of all of it?

Furthermore...When one starts paying for another's healthcare, then that one begins to desire the right to dictate the terms of the other's lifestyle, habits, etc. Hence, look for taxes on potato chips, requirements to eat certain foods, and the propagation of the "lifestyle police" (as if government didn't have enough to do---and as if that was ever the purpose of the United States government).

Be sure and tell Pandora you have her box, and you plan on opening it... :laugh:

 

"Durn amateur 'Grammar Police' wannabes!"

Signed, Language Cop