My wife had to do a resident rotation at Boston City Hospital (remember
the show St. Elsewhere?). A lot of their patients were walk(or
transport)-ins, and they got excellent care, in some cases better than
private payers, because Unkie was footing the bill and there was not a
lot of oversight on what was ordered, billed, etc. The hospital made
money off that and everyone knew it and acted accordingly. Need a cat
scan for that bellyache? Of course, their patients were often less
"well" than private payers, because of lifestyles, behaviors, inability
(for whatever reasons) to take any responsibility for their own
care/situation, etc., but they got excellent care.
Oh, and they could not test anyone for AIDS without explicit written
permission (the very active and powerful gay lobby in MA at that time
was agitating hard on that subject), so whenever anyone got a needle
stick the docs were playing craps with their (and their family's)
lives. And BCH being what it was/is, a good portion of their patients
came in with positive AIDS.
Then she had to do a rotation at the Manchester NH VA hospital ("The
Manch") and that was *quite* an experience -- her concept of Hillarycare
(which at that time was a prominent topic) that she uses to calibrate
the politicians.
A buddy, an excellent doctor, now works at the Houston VA and while they
provide good care to their patients, the stories about the bureaucracy
can fill hours. I mention "Hillarycare" and he just smiles. That seems
to be the case (or they start ranting) with every doc I know and talk
to, and that is quite a few. Many of them are no fans of the ins cos
either, but given the choice...
--R
Sunil Hari wrote:
> Not pay it. it's really that simple. Public hospitals are specifically NOT
> allowed to send their bills to collection agencies so they have to eat the
> cost.
>
> Of course, if you try this at a private hospital, they'll stabilize you in
> the ER and then boot you.
>
>
>
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/
For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
