Teen Who Died of Covid-19 Was Denied Treatment Because He Didn't Have Health Insurance

[LiberalArkie]

A 17-year-old boy in Los Angeles County who became the first teen believed to have died from complications with covid-19 in the U.S. was denied treatment at an urgent care clinic because he didn’t have health insurance, according to R. Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, California. Roughly 27.5 million Americans—8.5 percent of the population—don’t have health insurance based on the latest government figures.

“He didn’t have insurance, so they did not treat him,” Parris said in a video posted to YouTube. The staff at the urgent care facility told the teen to try the emergency room at Antelope Valley (AV) Hospital, a public hospital in the area, according to the mayor.

“En route to AV Hospital, he went into cardiac arrest, when he got to AV hospital they were able to revive him and keep him alive for about six hours,” Parris said. “But by the time he got there, it was too late.”

Snip

The Lancaster teen tested positive for covid-19, but the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reportedly evaluating the case to see if there’s another explanation for his death. The initial cause of death was explained on Tuesday as septic shock from complications with covid-19. The teen’s father has tested positive for covid-19 as well. The teen’s death has been removed from the official U.S. death toll, according to Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer, who gave a press conference on March 25.

Snip

https://gizmodo.com/teen-who-died-of-covid-19-was-denied-treatment-because-1842520539

[ck4829]

1. "World's Greatest Healthcare System" unavailable for comment

[LiberalArkie]

3. Another clip from article

There have also been allegations from health care workers in the U.S. that some covid-19 deaths aren’t being properly counted, even as hospitals become overwhelmed with patients, sometimes waiting hours to get tested.

[Igel]

12. Then there was the woman who was added to the rolls today.

She died, it wasn't labeled COVID. The autopsy raised questions and the results came back COVID-19.

I trust but verify what health care workers say. Sometimes they're barely more competent than any average person off the street. One told me that bacon wasn't pork. Another insisted heparin was from cows. And the nuclear-med nurse told me that the thing I was holding was dangerous because of all the beta radiation that must have built up on it. (It was plastic, and I got no static shock. Beta rays are electrons. When they *do* build up, it's static electricity.)

Others are great.

Doctors usually better than nurses.

Trust but verify.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. This should not be happening in this country....

Sad...

[ck4829]

4. +1

[iluvtennis]

17. + 2. nt

[Newest Reality]

26. It appears that

It appears that it has been waiting to happen in this country for a long time.

The facade is not able to cover it up anymore and a severe blow like COVID-19 is revealing the truths about how decrepit America now is under the skin. All the face lifts worked for so long, but it is going beyond that.

And we are just getting started as far as seeing the real America.

[AllaN01Bear]

5. we used to have a beautiful public health system , now destryed by hmos

and other villans .

[CaptYossarian]

23. It turns out the private insurers are really the death panels.

But what would Sarah Palin know? She's Trump with ovaries.

[AllaN01Bear]

25. correct.

[calimary]

31. "trump with ovaries"! Exquisite!

Dayum you’re good, CaptYossarian!

[CaptYossarian]

42. Thanks.

[DBoon]

6. and we keep getting told health care for all is just too expensive

We might have to raise taxes! Better to let people die.

[DanieRains]

7. Thats What I Have Been Saying

Lucky or dead.

[MerryBlooms]

8. Removed from the official death toll and trying hard to find another reason for the teen's

death. Reminds me of when we were getting the numbers of injured and dead soldiers from Iraq. bush administration kept changing how the injuries and deaths were classified so the numbers directly related to the war were lower and lower. I'm sure I'm not wording that right, but I remember bush and his cronies also cooking the books when it came to real numbers relating to our soldiers in order to raise his approval numbers.

[Sunriser13]

9. Hiding the deaths

I remember the planes full of soldier's coffins, bringing the bodies home in the middle of the night. The Administration was trying to avoid media attention...

It seems a photographer got in trouble for his photos of one of the cargo planes, showing wall-to-wall flag-draped coffins, but my memory is fuzzy on the details.

[MerryBlooms]

11. Yes, it got real shady. Since the administration has decided

to make the testing criteria so difficult, it's the same sort of thing. That way, the numbers stay very low. bush did the same thing with how deaths and injuries were recorded, the criteria (not sure if that's the right word), kept changing.

[2naSalit]

14. +1

Never forget.

[not fooled]

15. red don's crisis management plan

who cares how many people sicken and die, just hide the numbers.

[calimary]

40. Yep. bush/cheney admin forbade the coverage of the flag-draped caskets

Last edited Sat Mar 28, 2020, 07:31 AM - Edit history (1)

coming home from the war. Reporters got fired. Jobs were threatened. The woman who took that photo of all those caskets (if it’s the one I'm thinking of) had to sneak in to get it. She almost lost her job. A few others including, I believe, a columnist who was early with criticism, and almost got fired too.

It must be remembered: VERY early in the Obama administration, Not long after bush/cheney ended, President Obama personally met one of those sad shipments on the tarmac at Dover AFB, in the middle of the night, with an honor guard and his Secretary of State (Hillary) on hand, to pay tribute.

It was the first time IN YEARS we’d seen something like that, in honor of returning war dead. bush/cheney didn’t. Not just neglected. Actively refused. Heaven forbid America has to actually SEE the visible cost of war. They were anxious to maintain the war and stifle ANY exposure of the dead, the wounded, the bodies, the carnage. Somebody in that White House remembered the lesson of Vietnam.

“When we lost Cronkite” was what one of them said about the moments when the Vietnam war was starting to grow more unpopular. All that news coverage on the evening network newscasts and the killing and the carnage slowly turned America’s stomach against the war. And the network anchormen were no exception. The violence and bloodshed played out across the dinner table every night.

So, what to do? Well, for the eager bush/cheney class, it wasn’t to avoid having a war. It was to avoid having it shown on TV. And how do you do that? You limit access, reporters are escorted wherever, and maybe a small handful of reporters is assembled to represent all the media, and they’re the conduit for pool coverage that’s provided to everyone. And photos are restricted.

In the Iraq War case, it was POLICY that no American dead were shown. No coverage of the caskets loading into the transport plane, meeting the caskets arriving back on American soil at Dover, graveside ceremonies, the grieving widow being presented with the flag from her husband’s coffin, the playing of taps, etc. the public mustn’t see any of that. We want the poll numbers on the President’s favorability numbers and support of the war to stay high. Can’t allow them to fall!

Barack Obama changed that in the first few months of his presidency. He had his new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, right there standing silently next to to him on the tarmac. Announced it would be happening and opened it up to all press coverage. And everybody came and covered it, live. I watched. I remember how solemn it was. And it made me so proud. Especially knowing that sneaky-ass DELIBERATELY deceptive attempt to keep us in the dark about what that previous scum bucket bunch was up to - was OVER.

[Sunriser13]

41. Thank you so much for your details!

I vividly remember that beautiful human being showing the deserved respect to our dead. God, I miss Barack! He and Hillary made such an awesome team.

For some reason, I seem to remember a rainy evening another time with Barack Obama, standing in the rain, saluting the coffins as they were unloaded.

Again, thank you, calimary.

[Sunriser13]

10. I used to work at an Urgent Care

If we saw a patient in such critical condition, we probably wouldn't have tried to treat him, either, but we would have immediately called an ambulance...


Edited to add: ... and his insurance coverage (or lack of) wouldn't have been a consideration in such circumstances.

[Igel]

13. I've never heard of an emergency room saying "no" and stopping there.

Sounds like the kid was really ill. Lancaster, not a large town.

[whathehell]

18. That was my first reaction too...

I thought it was illegal, basically.

[appalachiablue]

32. Hospitals used to refuse care to black people years ago. America

is a declining third world nation and oligarchy with barbaric systems like prisons and more. Disgraceful Sh*thole.

[whathehell]

37. That was MANY years ago

and no, I don't think we can just throw this under the "America ain't it awful"? blanket...As the Urgent Care poster indicated, this is NOT the way Emergency Room patients are normally treated..It's the exception that proves the rule, which is why it's getting attention.

[appalachiablue]

39. Late 1950s is the case I'm thinking of and even though it was

decades ago the recent case blunder evokes a time when refusing specific patients was policy and fact.

[Sunriser13]

20. My understanding is that he coded while on the way

My understanding is that he coded while on the way to the ER in a private vehicle, and it was too late to resuscitate him successfully. He lived only a short time after that.

Either way, this was one terribly sick boy who was poorly served by what passes as medical care.

[Jose Garcia]

21. ERs cannot deny care due to inability to pay

[OhNo-Really]

27. I was refused care in the late 1970s. 3 hospital ERs refused to treat me

I was working for a small company with no insurance and age 26.

I was in agony with what turned out to be a large kidney stone that took 6 days to pass

So this “refuse to care” crap has been around for decades. This was in Boston.

[whathehell]

38. That was over forty years ago...

Things have changed.. This incident is shocking, because it IS the exception to the rule.

[blueinredohio]

24. The clinic where I go has an urgent care.

From my understanding a hospital or e.r. can't turn you down for no insurance. But I know the clinic does. They also will not see you if you have a balance on your bill until it is paid in full.

[Progressive Jones]

16. This needs to be shoved into every orifice of anyone

opposing a National Healthcare System.

[displacedtexan]

19. Urgent Care is also known as Doc In The Box.

It's not a community hospital. It's a network of private med offices where you go if you're out of your primary provider's area or your Dr can't see you & you need non-life threatening care. They can treat general practice type illnesses and minor injuries (scrapes, burns, allergies, etc), or they call an ambulance.

Look up Solv for more info. It's one of the corporations associated with Urgent Care.

The headline is deceiving.

[TexasBushwhacker]

43. I agree

"Urgent Care" is for when you need to see a doctor now, but you aren't going to die if you don't. This young man was apparently much sicker than his family realized.

[Sunlei]

22. just to let people know-healthcare.gov has re-opened enrollment for insurance

for some states a couple days ago and the rest of the states probably will let enrollment open soon. It's really worth it to even get the cheapest plan, probably 100% subsidized by the government with a high deductible. There will be no cost to you with some of the plans.

That way you'll have insurance just in case you get sick and can't breath, need to get in the doors of urgent care. You'll have a Doctor/Nurse you can call and do online face time with.

This crisis really shows how badly America needs healthcare access for all.

[appalachiablue]

33. Thank you for mentioning Sunlei! I know a family that needs coverage.

[procon]

28. I live nearby, out in the country, but lancaster is

where I shop. Some of my family live in town. It's a Republican stronghold and the mayor is a lying snake. He's all concerned on local TV, but it's all phony.

This poor family went to a private, for profit urgent care facility. Who knows if he was even properly triaged or even seen by a licensed nurse before the intake clerk turned the kid away.

He was very sick from the start, and without any insurance, the family probably tried to use DIY treatments at home for several days before they sought medical care. He died in route to the hospital ER, a tragedy on many fronts.

Again, we are the wealthiest nation in the world, where the rich get richer and the poor die whilst trying to find medical care. We've spent trillions on unwinnable wars, bailouts for bankers, generous tax cuts to Big Businesses that don't pay any taxes to begin with, and huge tax cuts to the richest of the rich, yet we still can't work out a healthcare plan to cover all Americans.

That's just wrong, morally and financially, it's got to change. I have hopes that when this virus mess is over, we will have a collective epiphany and recognise the need for a national health system. When they add up all the costs for this disaster, it will be far more than the costs to implement a comprehensive healthcare plan.

It's more than just an Democratic aspiration, now its a necessity because the next epidemic will come along and we'll go through all this again and again. If we don't adapt to meet the needs of the people, we may not recover from the next disaster.

[Chainfire]

29. Get over it people

It is just good business.

[NewJeffCT]

30. 27.5 million without insurance?

wasn't that a lot lower under Obama? Like under 20 million?

[Celerity]

36. it went up in 2018 (first time the number in a decade) to 27.5 million, up from 25.6 million in 2017

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2019/demo/p60-267.html

User Note

This report was originally published on September 10, 2019. Table 6 was revised. In the previously published report, the rounded 2018 American Community Survey estimate for the total number of uninsured people in the United States was listed at 28,554,000. The revised report includes the correct rounded estimate of 28,566,000. The difference did not affect the uninsured rate.

Highlights

• In 2018, 8.5 percent of people, or 27.5 million, did not have health insurance at any point during the year. The uninsured rate and number of uninsured increased from 2017 (7.9 percent or 25.6 million).

• The percentage of people with health insurance coverage for all or part of 2018 was 91.5 percent, lower than the rate in 2017 (92.1 percent). Between 2017 and 2018, the percentage of people with public coverage decreased 0.4 percentage points, and the percentage of people with private coverage did not statistically change.

• In 2018, private health insurance coverage continued to be more prevalent than public coverage, covering 67.3 percent of the population and 34.4 percent of the population, respectively. Of the subtypes of health insurance coverage, employer-based insurance remained the most common, covering 55.1 percent of the population for all or part of the calendar year.

• Between 2017 and 2018, the percentage of people covered by Medicaid decreased by 0.7 percentage points to 17.9 percent. The rate of Medicare coverage increased by 0.4 percentage points. The percentage of people with employment-based coverage, direct-purchase coverage, TRICARE, and VA or CHAMPVA health care did not statistically change between 2017 and 2018.

• The percentage of uninsured children under the age of 19 increased by 0.6 percentage points between 2017 and 2018, to 5.5 percent.

• Between 2017 and 2018, the percentage of people without health insurance coverage at the time of interview decreased in three states and increased in eight states.

[area51]

34. Regarding the pandemic, is there a better example

of why we should have health coverage that's not linked to a job? Long past time for comprehensive Medicare for All.

Problems with a public option.

[BComplex]

35. So THAT is why the CDC is reporting so few deaths? to cover trump's butt?

They're saying if someone dies of cardiac arrest it isn't COVID-19?

Rachel or Lawrence or someone was asking last night how come the figures don't represent what hospitals have been telling news people. Hospitals say the news is way behind on reporting deaths, but the CDC is the "official" declarant of the numbers.