Mahoney-Pursley Ranch said:
alice said:
Four hour waits in the emergency room are not unheard of here, Tam. In fact, it is becoming more and more frequent. One reason: Because more and more families can't afford health insurance and the only way they can be seen by a doctor anymore is to go to the emergency room which causes some people to wait longer than 4 hours. Our health care system is broken, plain and simple.
Alice
They go to the ER knowing they will be seen and knowing they will never pay the bill because they will not be seen at a Doctors office.
It's become standard practice, around here anyway, that the doctor's office visit must be paid up front...before you see the doctor, whether you have insurance or not. In emergency rooms, that is not the case. Our emergency rooms have become clinics.
And insurance is not covering what it used to. You see a doctor, provide your insurance, then get a whoppin' big bill for what the insurance won't cover. People with insurance are getting strangled by the health care system here and health insurance companies. People with insurance that need to go to the doctor don't...because they can't afford it. Yeah, they can afford the copay, but it's the bills that start coming in after that they can't afford.
Alice