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JohnnyRingo

(18,581 posts)
Mon Sep 24, 2012, 07:09 PM Sep 2012

So the emergency room takes care of your heart attack for free?

...and when they release you they tell you to come back to the ER for your bypass surgery.

This is the real problem with Romney's plan for working class healthcare. You can't go there for follow up treatment. Nor will they supply us with the medicine or treatments we need All they do is stabilize our condition and kick us to the curb.

For the ensuing care after that heart attack we have to go into debt, a word that normally makes Romney cringe.

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HockeyMom

(14,337 posts)
3. My daughter didn't have health insurance through her job
Mon Sep 24, 2012, 07:24 PM
Sep 2012

with her $11/hour salary. She went to the ER. She was hospitalized. She got into extreme DEBT because of this. She had bill collectors threatening her, and her family, with PHYSICAL HARM if she didn't pay her MEDICAL BILLS. They took her direct deposit bank account from her salary. She closed it so they would not take her salary, but then they garnisheed her $11/hour salary. When that wasn't enough, they called MY home and threatened ME.

Of course the Republicans, Mitt, and Ann, would never understand, or have any compassion for any of this.

The Emergency Room will not turn you down for medical help, BUT they will still send you a nice big BILL for their services. If you cannot afford to pay, they will send BILL COLLECTORS after you.

JohnnyRingo

(18,581 posts)
8. He'd probably advise her to "shop around".
Mon Sep 24, 2012, 10:53 PM
Sep 2012

"Get the best deal you can find." "Borrow money from your parents."

That's the world as Mitt sees it, which is an ATM with unlimited access to cash.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
5. They don't take care of it for free. They bill patients.
Mon Sep 24, 2012, 07:43 PM
Sep 2012

And they often bill at rates that are 3 or more times what they get from Medicare and private insurance companies.

You are correct, there is not law that provides for any kinds of followup.

While EMTALA made sense when it was put in place, it has become a national disaster both for patients and for hospitals.

progressivebydesign

(19,458 posts)
6. Oh no, no. Romney said that the STates will pay for it, for you!!
Mon Sep 24, 2012, 08:51 PM
Sep 2012

Because they have tons of money just sitting around waiting to be used for uninsured people.

MiniMe

(21,677 posts)
7. Um, no
Mon Sep 24, 2012, 10:29 PM
Sep 2012

I had a heart attack with no insurance. Spent 4 days in the hospital, and got a bill for $36,000, somewhere around there. They took good care of me, I had no complaints there at all. But I told them from when I got there that I had no insurance and no means to pay, but still got a big bill.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,280 posts)
9. There is this bizarre notion floating around that ER treatment is free.
Mon Sep 24, 2012, 11:08 PM
Sep 2012

It isn't! An ER in a public hospital that gets federal grants has to treat anyone even if they don't have insurance, but they expect you to pay for that treatment. You are very lucky if you can leave the ER for less than $2K or so; if it's anything serious it will be a whole lot more. If you are uninsured, or if you have insurance with a high deductible (like a lot of us have now), you will be personally responsible for whatever your insurance doesn't cover, or all of it if you have no insurance. They will bill you and dun you and send the bill to a collection agency and maybe garnish your wages. At some point if you haven't paid up the hospital will write off the debt, which just means that insurance premiums will go up for the insured. It's "free" only in the sense that they have to treat you even if you don't have insurance and might not be able to afford the treatment.

And, of course, since it's an emergency room, they will treat you only for the emergency condition, not for follow-up or chronic conditions.

JohnnyRingo

(18,581 posts)
10. That seems to be the point that eludes Mitt and others like him
Mon Sep 24, 2012, 11:21 PM
Sep 2012

We can't go back to the ER and ask for another prescription for our vital heart medicine.
Once they find you have no coverage your visit will be as short as possible, at least in this town.

On edit:
Even the TV pundits seem to miss this. Instead they just talk about how "preventive care" is not afforded at the ER. Neither is post op care which is needed in every case. You can't go back to the ER to get stitches out.

ailsagirl

(22,842 posts)
11. Interesting, as Chris Matthews pointed out today...
Tue Sep 25, 2012, 12:29 AM
Sep 2012

how Nitt used 'apartment' in last night's '60 Minutes' interview (i.e., if a guy has a heart attack, he doesn't sit in his apartment and wait to die...). Why didn't he say 'home' or 'house?' I noticed it but I didn't attach any significance to it, but who knows? It wouldn't be out-of-character in his tendency to look down his nose at the lower classes.

gkhouston

(21,642 posts)
12. I suspect there *are* people who sit in their apartments/homes and wait to die
Tue Sep 25, 2012, 12:33 AM
Sep 2012

because they have a better idea than Mitt of how much an emergency room visit costs when you don't have insurance.

nolabels

(13,133 posts)
13. Well if you don't make it then at least it will be free for you!
Tue Sep 25, 2012, 01:01 AM
Sep 2012

The E.R. is the worst place to try accomplish anything, let alone trying to negotiate a serious medical condition

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