We already have universal health care

[mdmc]

It is called the emergency room.
Sure, there is a better way to provide medical care.
But a better way would be a victory for Obama.
The loyal opposition would rather keep bad universal health care.
Better to keep the bad system then to hand Obama a victory.
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I for one will support Obama in whatever he can get reform wise.

I didn't vote for a revolutionary. I voted to keep Palin out of DC.
I got what I wanted. America will get what it deserves.

[hobbit709]

1. But going to the ER may bankrupt you

unless you live in a state where they can't come after you for unpaid bills.

[Warpy]

2. In addition, the ER is very limited in what it does

It won't do surgery, give chemo, follow up after a heart attack, or do anything else but stabilize you enough to make it out the door alive.

The ER is not a substitute for a real health care system.

Anyone who says it is is either ignorant or callous or both.

[YOY]

4. I've actually heard a wing nut say it.

"The ER will not turn you away!"

Yes...but only for triage...and if you have even the smallest modicum of (needed or felt) responsibility you have to pay them back...ant it ain't cheap.

He really didn't have a comeback.

[mdmc]

10. thank you for your reply

My right wing (jewish) friend recently said the same thing.
He has no insurance, and recently needed to go to the ER due to a job related injury to his hip.
He was billed $7,000 - which he will never pay (he has no resources to pay).

He likes to drink and was drinking when we talked. He would rather keep this system then get improved insurance through an Obama plan reform. Sure reform would help him, but he does not feel that improving his lot is worth handing Obama a victory.

I have another neo-con friend who is the father of a child with a heart condition. He is always posting on fb that he needs to hold car washes, sell raffle tickets, yadda yadda in order to afford treatment for his daughter. I often use his example (has health insurance that wont help to treat his daughter) as proof that we need reform.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

5. You never know what you're going to get at our local ER/Trauma Center.

Three years ago they tried to send me home even though there was a good chance that I was having a heart attack. My PCP was contacted and he told them that I was to be admitted. Good thing; I WAS having a heart attack and wouldn't have made it if they had released me.
Eleven years ago I was hit by a car while riding my bicycle. The same ER basically refused to treat me because they didn't like my PCP. I kept telling them that there was something wrong with my neck. They pretty much said that they didn't care. They sent me home even though I was basically crawling out. By the time that I was diagnosed with a partial spinal cord injury, it had already caused permanent ischemic damage to the spinal cord, brain stem and cerebellum. There are some good ER doctors, but I'm a little leery after my past experiences.

[Warpy]

6. I know what you mean

I went to the county hospital in July when I got really sick, really fast because I knew their ER was the best in town.

I shudder to think how I'd have been treated at the other ERs in town. I'm a nurse and I've worked in them so I know how "medically indigent" patients are often treated. I'd have been ignored to death.

As it was, my treatment was top notch and my bill was probably half of what it might have been at either the for profit or the "nonprofit" (ha ha) hospital.

ERs vary widely. If there is more than one hospital in your area, ask a nurse or EMT who has the good one.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

8. Sadly, there are two hospitals in town but they merged about 5 years ago.

I asked an EMT that I know if I could carry a directive with me that would allow them to take me to Conemaugh Trauma Center in Johnstown.
He said that I wasn't the first person to ask that but that regulations require them to get you to the closest one. It was worth a shot anyway.

[havocmom]

3. Exactly, this bit about 'they have to treat you' is a myth. Many MISTREAT you

then hound you and attach your wages. Not conducive to good healing, eventually causing some to spiral into switching jobs just ahead of the paperwork so they can barely keep a roof over their heads. It is madness.

[newfie11]

7. All ER's run in the red

If everyone just went to an ER the wait would be a whole lot worse than it is now (and it is very bad in some places). If everyone decided to use an ER as universal health care you could possibly see hospitals going under and closing doors.

[Echo In Light]

9. "Revolutionary?"

[mdmc]

12. Nader

Kucinich..
Ron Paul..

Someone that would challenge the status quo..

[LibDemAlways]

11. The only ER near me keeps people waiting for many hours. The

waiting room is a nightmare of sick and injured people hoping at some point to see a doctor. First they have to get past the woman who scrutinizes their insurance cards. Those without insurance have to first sign a promise to pay, and there are signs all over the place that payment is expected and required.

A trip to the ER could potentially bankrupt a person who has no insurance, or, at the very least, lead to harrassing calls from collection agencies.