A couple of years ago my wife went into the emergency room at the local hospital. She was there about 5 hours had a couple of EKGs, numerous blood tests and was given a small boxed meal. She aske if she could go home and come back the next day. The doctors response was “what kind of insurance do you have” when she replied PPO he said, “No you must stay the night”. Her stay ended up being 25 hours, she was given more blood tests, more EKGs but was never fed again. The doctor determined she had heart-burn. They gave her a little purple pill and sent her home with a bill for $26,000.
Everyone knows the rising cost of healthcare is due to fear of lawsuit. They have to cover their butts to ensure all avenues are pursued before letting someone go. I’m sure many unneeded procedures are done just to keep the vultures away. We need tort reform and we need it now. Cut down the cost of insurance for everyone involved in health care from the drug manufacturer to the doctor that prescribes it.
Fear of lawsuits is a miniscule contibuting factor to the high cost of healthcare. The driving factor is the number of uninsured that don’t or can’t pay that use the emergency rooms. The entire cost to care for those people is passed on to those with insurance. That’s why, as in Anejo’s story, his wife was asked to stay because she had insurance. They knew they were getting payment. They didn’t test her out of fear of lawsuits. Theytested her to run up the bill.
We don’t need tort reform. States that have enacted strong tort reform measures have the exact same problem with skyrocketing healthacre costs as states without tort reform on the books.
We need for people to start taking responsibility for their own actions by purchasing health insurance. When the hospitals start getting paid for every patient that walks through the door, prices will stabilize.
The reason the hospitals charge 24x what a pharmacy would is to make up for the uninsured that get injured and wind up in the ER without the means to pay.
The more people who are insured, the less the expense healthcare will be.
In my wife’s case they kept her , not to cover their butts but to collect the insurance money. If she had an HMO she could have gone home. Insurance paid almost the entire bill. The same blood test every two hours is overkill.
Here’s more on the complete and utter myth that tort reform brings down healthcre costs:
A recent study ranked the states by the toughness of their tort reform laws. Just so you know this was not some liberal study, the forward was written by Sarah Palin. In the study, you’ll see that Alaska ranks as the state with the strictest tort reform laws in the country.
So, knowing that the tort laws in alaska are the toughest in the nation, where do you think Alaska ranks in healthcare costs?
The following article informs that healthacre costs in Alaska are amoing the highest in the world! http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/02/10/health-care-costs-in-alaska/
To The Other Point of View: I bet a hell of a lot more people would buy health insurance if they could GET it. Any type of pre-existing condition and no one will insure you, or the cost is out of reach.
That’s one of the nice things about the PPACA. It prohibits insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. Once states set up health care exchanges as they are supposed to under the law, buying a policy will be more affordable. You just have to look at how it works in Massachusetts. It’s very successful there.
But many states are waiting to see what the Supreme Court does. We should know sometime in June.
A couple of years ago my wife went into the emergency room at the local hospital. She was there about 5 hours had a couple of EKGs, numerous blood tests and was given a small boxed meal. She aske if she could go home and come back the next day. The doctors response was “what kind of insurance do you have” when she replied PPO he said, “No you must stay the night”. Her stay ended up being 25 hours, she was given more blood tests, more EKGs but was never fed again. The doctor determined she had heart-burn. They gave her a little purple pill and sent her home with a bill for $26,000.
Everyone knows the rising cost of healthcare is due to fear of lawsuit. They have to cover their butts to ensure all avenues are pursued before letting someone go. I’m sure many unneeded procedures are done just to keep the vultures away. We need tort reform and we need it now. Cut down the cost of insurance for everyone involved in health care from the drug manufacturer to the doctor that prescribes it.
Fear of lawsuits is a miniscule contibuting factor to the high cost of healthcare. The driving factor is the number of uninsured that don’t or can’t pay that use the emergency rooms. The entire cost to care for those people is passed on to those with insurance. That’s why, as in Anejo’s story, his wife was asked to stay because she had insurance. They knew they were getting payment. They didn’t test her out of fear of lawsuits. Theytested her to run up the bill.
We don’t need tort reform. States that have enacted strong tort reform measures have the exact same problem with skyrocketing healthacre costs as states without tort reform on the books.
We need for people to start taking responsibility for their own actions by purchasing health insurance. When the hospitals start getting paid for every patient that walks through the door, prices will stabilize.
Well said, Thank you.
Bingo! You are correct, sir.
The reason the hospitals charge 24x what a pharmacy would is to make up for the uninsured that get injured and wind up in the ER without the means to pay.
The more people who are insured, the less the expense healthcare will be.
PPACA is a good start.
In my wife’s case they kept her , not to cover their butts but to collect the insurance money. If she had an HMO she could have gone home. Insurance paid almost the entire bill. The same blood test every two hours is overkill.
Here’s more on the complete and utter myth that tort reform brings down healthcre costs:
A recent study ranked the states by the toughness of their tort reform laws. Just so you know this was not some liberal study, the forward was written by Sarah Palin. In the study, you’ll see that Alaska ranks as the state with the strictest tort reform laws in the country.
http://www.pacificresearch.org/docLib/20100525_Tort_Liability_Index_2010.pdf
So, knowing that the tort laws in alaska are the toughest in the nation, where do you think Alaska ranks in healthcare costs?
The following article informs that healthacre costs in Alaska are amoing the highest in the world!
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/02/10/health-care-costs-in-alaska/
To The Other Point of View: I bet a hell of a lot more people would buy health insurance if they could GET it. Any type of pre-existing condition and no one will insure you, or the cost is out of reach.
That’s one of the nice things about the PPACA. It prohibits insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. Once states set up health care exchanges as they are supposed to under the law, buying a policy will be more affordable. You just have to look at how it works in Massachusetts. It’s very successful there.
But many states are waiting to see what the Supreme Court does. We should know sometime in June.