Associated Press
Just three weeks ago, CBS's Scott Pelley asked Mitt Romney, "Does the government have a responsibility to provide health care to the 50 million Americans who don't have it today?" The Republican didn't answer the question directly, but instead suggested there's no cause for alarm -- the uninsured can rely on emergency rooms.
The exchange was widely panned for being both callous and ignorant, and yet, as Rebecca Leber noted, Romney apparently can't help himself.
"We don't have a setting across this country where if you don't have insurance, we just say to you, 'Tough luck, you're going to die when you have your heart attack,' " he said as he offered more hints as to what he would put in place of "Obamacare," which he has pledged to repeal.
"No, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it's paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital. We don't have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don't have insurance."
He pointed out that federal law requires hospitals to treat those without health insurance -- although hospital officials frequently say that drives up health-care costs.
Sigh.
It's disconcerting to see Romney stick to such a ridiculous position, but my greater fear is that the Republican candidate actually believes what he's saying.
Let's set the record straight again. It's true that under the preferred Republican system -- American health care before the Affordable Care Act passed -- if you're uninsured and get sick, there are public hospitals that will treat you. As Romney noted, if you have a heart attack, you can call 911 and medical professionals will come get you and give you care.
But it's extremely expensive to treat patients this way, and it would be far cheaper, and more medically effective, to pay for preventative care so that people don't have to wait for a medical emergency to seek treatment.
For that matter, when sick people with no insurance go to the E.R. for care, they often can't pay their bills. No problem, Romney says, hospitals and the government will step up. But whether the confused former governor understands this or not, he's describing the most inefficient system of socialized medicine ever devised.
Indeed, since hospitals can't treat sick patients for free, the bills can still bankrupt those who get sick, and the costs are still passed on to everyone else.
And in the bigger picture, it's worse than that. For those with chronic ailments, this position is a pathetic joke -- is anyone going to stop by the emergency room for chemotherapy or diabetes treatments?
As for Romney, we know exactly why he keeps talking like this: under his approach, the number of Americans without health insurance will soar. He's defending his emergency-room plan as a tenable solution because the candidate is well aware of the reality -- tens of millions of Americans will have no other choices once a Romney administration destroys the Affordable Care Act and guts Medicaid.
The reality is plain for anyone who cares: Americans die because they lack basic coverage and Romney doesn't have a plan to deal with this. On the contrary, he has a plan to make the problem worse, on purpose.
Romney's argument isn't a responsible approach to American health care in the 21st century; Romney's argument is ridiculous.
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Questions for Mitt Romney. If you're going to repeal Obama care how are you going to stop all of us from continuing to pay higher medical costs to cover those who show up at the emergency room without health insurance? You can't do this without an individual mandate, but why am I telling you this, because of course you already know this since this is what you did in Massachusetts.
Mitt Romney,"The lord wants me to be president". SO I'M LYING FOR THE LORD!
Two can play that game, I think someone is lying to Romney... Rmoney.
Yes, we do have people who die in their apartments, homes, streets, subways, stores, gas stations, you name it all because they do not have insurance. This is what happens when you rely solely on one resource to get all your information. Rich Corporations spend most of their time reputing any truth. They don't really care about anything or anyone but, themselves so it certainly shows up and becomes obvious in the answers Romney gives. He doesn't really know too much, and he wishes we would stop asking him.
Questions for Mitt Romney. If you're going to repeal Obama care how are you going to stop all of us from continuing to pay higher medical costs to cover those who show up at the emergency room without health insurance? If you don't support Medicare for all, you can't do this without an individual mandate, but why am I telling you this, because of course you already know this since this is what you did in Massachusetts.
What I don't get is how Mitt Romney can talk about the deficit being "immoral", but it is not immoral for us to handle health care the way he proposes?
Question that will never get asked in a million years:
Governor Romney, you have recently taken the position that there are aspects of Obamacare that you'll preserve, including the requirement that insurers cover people with pre-existing conditions.
You have not been specific about whether you will preserve the individual mandate.
If insurance companies insist that the pre-existing condition requirement has to be coupled with the individual mandate in order for them to stay in business, will you agree? If not, how will you address the problem of people who only buy insurance after they get sick?
If you do go to an ER, try not to use an ambulance, you can get charged incredible charges for "trauma activation":
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/sky-high-trauma-fees-stun-some-er-patients/nSWTw/
When Mark Mitchell of Austin crashed his new bike in January on the Lady Bird Lake trail, he stood up, felt woozy and then passed out. A bystander called 911. Paramedics with Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services encouraged Mitchell to go to the hospital. Fainting could indicate a brain injury; his left elbow also was bleeding. Mitchell agreed and rode in the ambulance to the region’s highest level adult trauma center, University Medical Center Brackenridge, which is operated by the Seton Healthcare Family.
Now, he’s sorry he did. The bill was more than $20,000 for the two-hour, 17-minute emergency room visit. It included a $14,248 “trauma activation fee,” which Mitchell called “totally outrageous considering the minimal medical (care) provided.” . . . EMS Chief of Staff James Shamard [stated]: “We did not declare this person a trauma case or a trauma activation in any way. Based on the presentation of the patient and the national criteria used in our region, … he didn’t meet any of the criteria.” Hospital officials, who reviewed his records, say otherwise....Trauma fees nationally ranged from $837 to $24,964 a visit, according to research led by the trauma center association and published in 2009. “Significant underused opportunities exist for enhanced revenue” by charging such fees, the authors of the paper said.
Austin lawyer Brooks Schuelke said he started noticing the fees about two years ago when handling the personal injury cases of uninsured accident victims treated at UMC Brackenridge.. . .By law, those fees can be charged if patients come in by ambulance. That’s about 16 percent of ER patients nationally, according to the association. . . .Mitchell said he is grateful to the doctors and paramedics. His beef is over a big bill for minor injuries, he said: “I just feel a little hoodwinked. By (EMS) calling and saying I had a bike wreck that triggered $14,000. It still boggles my mind.”
Apparently this is happening everywhere:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/EmergencyMedicine/EmergencyMedicine/34986
If you do go to the ER, beware of horrendous "trauma activation fees":
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/sky-high-trauma-fees-stun-some-er-patients/nSWTw/
When Mark Mitchell of Austin crashed his new bike in January on the Lady Bird Lake trail, he stood up, felt woozy and then passed out. A bystander called 911. Paramedics with Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services encouraged Mitchell to go to the hospital. Fainting could indicate a brain injury; his left elbow also was bleeding. Mitchell agreed and rode in the ambulance to the region’s highest level adult trauma center, University Medical Center Brackenridge, which is operated by the Seton Healthcare Family.
Now, he’s sorry he did. The bill was more than $20,000 for the two-hour, 17-minute emergency room visit. It included a $14,248 “trauma activation fee,” which Mitchell called “totally outrageous considering the minimal medical (care) provided.” . . . EMS Chief of Staff James Shamard [stated]: “We did not declare this person a trauma case or a trauma activation in any way. Based on the presentation of the patient and the national criteria used in our region, … he didn’t meet any of the criteria.” Hospital officials, who reviewed his records, say otherwise....Trauma fees nationally ranged from $837 to $24,964 a visit, according to research led by the trauma center association and published in 2009. “Significant underused opportunities exist for enhanced revenue” by charging such fees, the authors of the paper said.
Austin lawyer Brooks Schuelke said he started noticing the fees about two years ago when handling the personal injury cases of uninsured accident victims treated at UMC Brackenridge.. . .By law, those fees can be charged if patients come in by ambulance. That’s about 16 percent of ER patients nationally, according to the association. . . .Mitchell said he is grateful to the doctors and paramedics. His beef is over a big bill for minor injuries, he said: “I just feel a little hoodwinked. By (EMS) calling and saying I had a bike wreck that triggered $14,000. It still boggles my mind.”
Apparently this is happening everywhere:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/EmergencyMedicine/EmergencyMedicine/34986
Most people have not heard of the the latest ER pricing horror, trauma activation fees – I’ve warned people about NOT taking an ambulance if possibly avoidable:
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/sky-high-trauma-fees-stun-some-er-patients/nSWTw/
When Mark Mitchell of Austin crashed his new bike in January on the Lady Bird Lake trail, he stood up, felt woozy and then passed out. A bystander called 911. Paramedics with Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services encouraged Mitchell to go to the hospital. Fainting could indicate a brain injury; his left elbow also was bleeding. Mitchell agreed and rode in the ambulance to the region’s highest level adult trauma center, University Medical Center Brackenridge, which is operated by the Seton Healthcare Family.
Now, he’s sorry he did. The bill was more than $20,000 for the two-hour, 17-minute emergency room visit. It included a $14,248 “trauma activation fee,” which Mitchell called “totally outrageous considering the minimal medical (care) provided.” . . . EMS Chief of Staff James Shamard [stated]: “We did not declare this person a trauma case or a trauma activation in any way. Based on the presentation of the patient and the national criteria used in our region, … he didn’t meet any of the criteria.” Hospital officials, who reviewed his records, say otherwise....Trauma fees nationally ranged from $837 to $24,964 a visit, according to research led by the trauma center association and published in 2009. “Significant underused opportunities exist for enhanced revenue” by charging such fees, the authors of the paper said.
Austin lawyer Brooks Schuelke said he started noticing the fees about two years ago when handling the personal injury cases of uninsured accident victims treated at UMC Brackenridge.. . .By law, those fees can be charged if patients come in by ambulance. That’s about 16 percent of ER patients nationally, according to the association. . . .Mitchell said he is grateful to the doctors and paramedics. His beef is over a big bill for minor injuries, he said: “I just feel a little hoodwinked. By (EMS) calling and saying I had a bike wreck that triggered $14,000. It still boggles my mind.”
Apparently this is happening everywhere:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/EmergencyMedicine/EmergencyMedicine/34986