Health Care Versus Wealth Care

[NorthCarolina]

Health Care Versus Wealth Care: Investors with a Conscience Should Divest from Health Insurance Companies

By Robert Stone
OpEdNews: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Health-Care-Versus-Wealth-by-Robert-Stone-110920-689.html

I was the doctor on duty one night in August when the ambulance rushed a man into our Midwestern hospital ER. As I walked into the room, the scene was right out of TV. A nurse was trying to start an IV. Someone was running an EKG. A student had just put oxygen in the patient's nose. The room seemed crowded. The paramedics were sweating and slightly out of breath.

But my attention was on a pale, thin, fifty-five-year-old man sitting bolt upright on a gurney, clutching his chest and straining to breathe. Cold sweat dripped off his nose. I asked a couple of quick questions as I leaned him forward to listen to his lungs. Someone handed me his EKG showing an acute heart attack.

...

Just then I became aware of a woman quietly sobbing in a chair in the corner of the room, probably his wife. I walked over toward her and, as I neared, I reached out to touch her shoulder. She suddenly turned a fierce face up at me, saying: "When he told you he'd been having pain for two hours, he was lying! He's been having chest pains for the last two weeks!"

She didn't let up: "We were in the ER six months ago with his chest hurting, and they told him to see his cardiologist, but we don't have any insurance. They won't see him again without cash up front! What are we supposed to do?"

Her voice rising, she added: "And you know what else? They're suing us in small claims court right now over the bill from our last ER visit!"

<---snip--->

How many times a day does this play out somewhere in America? I shudder to think.

[wilt the stilt]

1. great article

wellpoint is one of the crappiest companies I have ever dealt with. i used to buy my own insurance and it was highway robbery. Now I work for a company. Literally they have made 10 mistakes this year and I caught them trying to pass along costs to me even though I had payed my 2,000 out of pocket for m daughter. CROOKS.

[RC]

2. The United States is the last industrialized nation to have "Your Money or Your Life" health care.

As long as we allow insurance companies to dictate who gets health care, we cannot in good conscience say we are a civilized nation.

[NorthCarolina]

3. "Your Money or Your Life" health care

Well put. I have not heard it before, but I can't think of a better descriptor for America's health care system than that.

[MedicalAdmin]

4. This might be the most important article on this I have seen this year.

I hope it gets broader notice. I'm sending it to and posting it everywhere I can.

[NorthCarolina]

5. Apparently not much interest here on DU though. nt

[MedicalAdmin]

6. Which is a huge pity.

As a clinic manager I can tell you that this trend is accelerating at warp speeds and it isn't pretty.

Perhaps you should repost this as a personal reflection. Tell a story and then link to this article as supporting evidence. There is way too much missing of the forest for the trees in this country.

This is a huge issue for a LOT of people.

[NorthCarolina]

8. Partner and I are amongst the uninsured in this country so nothing much

for us to reflect on. Perhaps something of this nature simply isn't that much of a big deal to the insured among us. You are correct that it is a huge issue for a LOT of people, but for the rest....not so much.

[midnight]

7. K&R.