Need healthcare? Go to the ER...

[cynatnite]

What a fuckhead! This came from some RW douche today. I said this....

You need an education. The ER was never designed for everyday care. Yet that's what is happening. As a result, the ER is overwhelmed by patients with exacerbated health issues that only became worse because they can't see a doctor...where their condition can be treated much cheaper and more easily. Most clinics and physicians won't see patients without healthcare. Instead, the uninsured go into an ER where costs are astronomical, wait times are long, and if they're lucky they can afford the prescriptions that they are handed. The uninsured usually can't pay those costs and they passed onto the rest of the country.

A third of the country's GDP are healthcare costs...higher than any other industrialized nation. The healthcare quality in this country has suffered because of the high costs. Uninsured are dying. In 2010, over 26,000 people died from lack of insurance. I have spent a good portion of my working career in ER's and clinics.

There is nothing more heartbreaking than to hear a mother cry because she can't pay for her child's antibiotics. Not long ago, a kid died because his toothache became so inflamed that the infection spread throughout his body. His family had no insurance. Why is that okay? Why can't we be outraged enough to put a stop to this? Does anyone not see the immorality of doing nothing? If this country can't get the gumption enough to help those who need it the most, then what the **** are we about? What do we really stand for if we refuse to help our fellow citizens?

I'm so fucking pissed at these people who's only answer to our healthcare crisis is to fucking go the ER.

[FarPoint]

1. I have heard that reply many times.

No sense of logic...just a quick fix answer with a condensed tone....like it's obviously simple.

[LiberalEsto]

2. The family practice group we go to routinely refers us to the ER or walk-in clinics

when they are too busy to see us. It's gotten harder to get an appointment with the doctors in recent years.

[cynatnite]

3. We have 3 urgent care clinics in our city. That's helped, but...

if you have to see a specialist...forget about it. 95% around here won't let you in the door without insurance. Not only that, their office visit costs are astronomical.

[bunnies]

6. same here re: specialists.

My orthopedist agreed to a payment plan after I (literally) cried and begged. Over $300 a visit to see him. He absolutely wont agree to do the surgery I need though. And I cant continue to pile up the debt. It really, really sucks.

[Hoyt]

4. The Republicons are working on a health plan now that they've been forced into it. LMAO.

[handmade34]

5. an argument

explaining compassion and "helping our fellow citizens" will never change an anti-government, tea-bagger type mind... if they would open their closed mind just a wee little bit- enough to let in the fact that uninsured people going to the ER costs him (taxpayers) more than Obamacare... now, then maybe that would leave an impression...

all that stuff about compassion, taking care of the less fortunate, people suffering, etc... seems to mean nothing to them

[Cicada]

7. we spend one sixth of gdp on health, not one third

it should be less than one tenth, as it is almost everywhere else

[LWolf]

8. Instead of

blaming the "fuckhead," why not blame every goddamned voter and politician who worship at the altar of for-profit health insurance which makes its profit by limiting care?

Why not blame the fucking country for not instituting a truly universal national non-profit health care plan, free at point of service and funded entirely by taxes? Take the financial stress out of the equation, paying too much money to insurance companies, and then paying more for deductibles and copays, and nobody has to rely on emergency care.

THAT'S THE ANSWER TO OUR HEALTHCARE CRISIS.

[MiniMe]

9. You can get treatment in the ER, but you still owe the outrageous bill that comes with it

Going to the ER is not the answer, it is the problem