A friend of mine in his 50s has no health insurance. Normally this is
not a problem because he is a vet who goes to the VA hospital. He has
a lot or problems, including some service related ones. The other day
he suffered from a minor stroke and passed out while at a Lowe's
hardware superstore. They called an ambulance, which took him to
Grady Hospital, because that is usually the only hospital in Atlanta
that take uninsured patients. He was there for 4 days, mostly doped
up or asleep to keep him from moving. He is much better now.
At Grady they did not have to do much for him other than to take some
cat scans and keep him immobilized. They sent him home and he went to
the VA hospital a few days later, where they did a bunch more tests
and declared him okay.
Anyway, the point of this story is to relate the appalling fact that
Grady just sent him a bill for $82,000. This is an self-employed,
ordinary, middle class guy who probably doesn't earn that much in a
year. In other words, four days of hospitalization for a relatively
minor health problem cost enough to bankrupt an ordinary person. This
is insane. The U.S. healthcare system is unsustainable.
Bush correctly pointed out that anyone in the U.S., even an uninsured
poor person, can get healthcare at an emergency room, just as my
friend did. He did not say that after a few days in the hospital you
will be billed more than your net worth, and then hounded by bill
collectors until they run you out of house and home.
- Jed
- [Vo]:OFF TOPIC A friend without health insurance Jed Rothwell
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