Few Americans
know or care that the Affordable Care Act of 2010 or Obamacare had labeled
those over a certain age as “units.” If patients are young, they probably think
themselves immortal - they would never get old, therefore such “unit” labeling
does not apply to them. The stark realization hits you like a ton of bricks -
you have become an older “unit” that can be ignored because government formulas
deemed your utility to society too close to zero.
Most
hospitals in northern Virginia post on electronic boards the number of minutes a patient
must wait before they are triaged and/or seen in an ER. That may appear
comforting and caring about one’s health and time until you actually set foot
in the ER and reality replaces clever and deceptive advertising.
I had to go
to our local NoVA ER this week. After the initial data and insurance screening,
triage, and waiting for three hours to be placed in a room and to be seen, I
decided to leave.
The waiting room,
triaged by two people speaking English with heavy accents, kept getting more
crowded with illegal aliens who did not speak English and required a translator
in their respective dialects. Over and over I heard the question, “Do you speak English,” and calls made
over the loudspeaker to a phone translator or to a hospital employee who spoke
that language. It was a veritable tower of Babel.
I felt alone
and lost in a sea of people with sick children who could have been seen quickly
and much cheaper by a local Emergicare doctor, while my chest was hurting like
hell and needed immediate attention.
It is sad
that, after paying half of my income in taxes and being forced to purchase three
medical insurance premiums, I cannot get medical care in my own country. Illegals
flood the emergency rooms in northern Virginia. As human beings, they have a
right to be treated too but must I pay for them and must my medical care become
secondary and tertiary to their needs?
Thirty years
ago there were no Emergicare facilities where we lived and ER wait was extensive
in the small southern town. I had to wait once eight hours when my child had
104.5 F fever before we could see a doctor. In that case it was because of the shortage
of doctors - nobody wanted to practice medicine in a small town.
Locals had
to travel 100 miles or more to the nearest larger town in order to seek medical
care. People were really nice in the
local ER then but my daughter could have had a seizure. I gave her liquid
Motrin but the fever was not coming down. She needed an antibiotic shot right
away. She eventually got it but I am saddened to this day when I think about
the length of our wait and what could have happened in that time.
Going to an
ER was a big deal back then as charges were huge and people actually had to pay
them immediately or over time. Today Americans and illegals flock to ERs for
convenience. They use emergency rooms as their GP doctor because they have no
idea how much it cost to use emergency services, they don’t care, and someone
else is paying for their visit.
While we pay
medical bills of illegals from Mexico and Central America, consider the
situation when an elderly American residing in Mexico, was taken to a
private hospital in Guadalajara recently by her American son.
Following a fall and arrival at the hospital, within 30 minutes, the only
American patient got a CT scan, two X-rays, blood tests, and specialist doctors
to read the results. The hospital did not accept Medicare Part A insurance. The
admission fee alone was 90,000 pesos ($4,500). Because the test readings
were within normal range, the son asked to have the IV removed and
she was discharged. The IV removal took three hours. The son had to leave his
passport "hostage" with the promise to pay on Monday when the banks
opened. The actual medical bill was 12,200 pesos ($610).
According to
the Associated Press, starting on January 1, 2019, “Medicare will require
hospitals to post their standard prices online and make electronic records more
readily available for patients.”
“Seema
Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the new
requirement for online prices reflects the Trump administration’s ongoing
efforts to encourage patients to become better-educated decision makers in
their own care.” https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/medicare-will-require-hospitals-to-post-all-prices-online?fbclid=IwAR0ZhFVXxkyuRf64csFSMQV4x29X39xOJX0RFPjjqOWnSDeuapfe_JwQgkA
Americans
should educate themselves before heading to the nearest ER, but what about all the illegal aliens who don’t speak
English and who flood emergency rooms because they know medical care is free
and is paid for by American taxpayers?
Ileana, I liked your column on LinkedIn. I don't like saying this, but this is all 'by design'. Knowing this doesn't make it any easier to accept. In 2 weeks from tomorrow, I'll be 67. I pray that when I have a health issue arise, that I will be treated, and in a timely fashion. A friend of mine sent me a column discussing how CVS is going to ration who gets access to prescription drugs. How insane is that? I also pray for a Passover for family, friends, & all who are fighting the globalist assaults. Obviously, you & yours, and Chriss Rainey & hers are included in my daily prayers.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for all of you in '19!
A. J.
Thank you, A.J., blessings to you and your family, especially your brother-in-law who has suffered so much in 2018.
DeleteAs to your hopes that you will be treated in a timely fashion and properly, I am not so sure. We are not yet that awful "units" described in ACA, the Affordable Care Act, but 70 does not seem to loom too far away. I watch like a hawk what they give to my mom who is almost 87. I am actually besieged by calls from nurses who want to keep her "comfortable" with her degenerative arthritis pain. What they really want to do is give her doses of morphine. As it accumulates in her body, organs begins to deteriorate unnecessarily and eventually will fail. What a horrible way to get rid of old people!
Thank you, AJ. The best to you also in 2019.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter broke her arm in high school in 1988 attending a basketball game. She slipped on an icy sidewalk. When she got home around 11:00 we could see the arm was in bad shape so we called our Dr. He said take tylonol and come to his office the next day.
He said if you go to the Bridgeport ER at this hour, you won't be treated for hours anyway. And you probably don't want to spend the night with the people you will encounter.
Sometimes it depends on the day of the week and time of day you go. I think hospitals are their own worst enemy. If they can triage the runny noses and fevers from the stab wounds and heart attacks, they should create seperate waiting lines for sick versus injured and sick versus those in real emergency situations.
The way I see it, you are all in one pen and unless you are bleeding or unconscious, you take a number and get in line.
Chris Rainey, you describe the ERs very well. I could see the three hours I had already waited easily turning into eight hours and longer. They did not have enough examining bays. I cannot not imagine what ERs will be like when healthcare is free for all under the Democrats' plan. They are getting their way at every corner because there is no opposition except perhaps from our President Trump who is representing Americans who voted for him and want to preserve our sovereignty. The Republican politicians are no different, they just want power.
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