I ended up having to go to the Emergency Room today because of a complication with a medical issue that was being treated. I went to the closest hospital to my home which is a teaching hospital. I realize most times we go there it will take longer since it is a teaching hospital but over all they do a good job and the treatment I received today was excellent.
Yet, as I sat in the waiting room waiting to be taken back to an open room, I couldn't help notice that as people came in to the ER, I was the only person during that time period that had health insurance. It's very likely that those who were there with me will not be able to pay their hospital bill and will be turned over to the Ohio Attorney General's office for collection (well actually the OAG subcontracts that out to a Credit Collection agency but they claim to be from the AG's office until you question them then they admit they are hired by the AG as subcontractors). The bill will the eventually get written off in the majority of cases and added to the over all care that those of us who have insurance are charged for since these "charge offs" end up being a cost of providing care.
While I"m not sure I support a socialized system of medicine like Canada has, I also can't help but wonder how much less our premiums would be if these charge offs were no longer considered a regular expense...
1 comment:
Add to that torte reform, to limit overall liability and us average folks could afford medical care without big government getting involved.
Post a Comment