A Conservative View

HEALTHCARE TRAIN WRECK-MEDICAID

Let me share some information concerning out of control healthcare costs. Every American should understand that “Medicaid” is the most abused program ever created by our Congressional idiots. The current issue concerning proof of citizenship being debated in Arizona is a smoke screen for Washington to hide behind as a rights issue. Ignoring the real causes of the skyrocketing costs of healthcare makes my blood boil. I listen to the doctors say verifying citizenship before service in an emergency room(ER) is wrong. They get well paid for providing ER service and likely do not accept Medicaid in their own private practice. It is now hard to find any doctor in the large cities that accept Medicaid or Medicare. This forces indigent people to go to the ER’s for routine healthcare. All business training insists that service without compensation is the fastest path to bankruptcy. The use of emergency rooms for non-critical doctor visits is destroying our healthcare system.

In addition to the government forcing people to go to the ER for routine service another fraud is happening. This involves the people who misuse our emergency rooms to avoid having to pay a doctor for a routine office call. Our Washington welfare mentality actually encourages some to use the ER rather than visiting a doctor in their office. I am “NOT” suggesting we deny anyone the right to go to an emergency room for critical help.

I have only been in two emergency rooms in my 80 years. One was when my wife fell in the early evening after our doctor’s office was closed. Her fall required stitches and our local hospital did a great job in sewing her up. My only personal visit was June 10, 2010 when I awoke at 4am with severe intestinal pain in my right lower abdomen that was self diagnosed as appendicitis. Again the local hospital, after extensive tests proved my diagnosis was in error and I had suffered a case of diverticulitis. So far this has reoccurred twice since with a trip to the doctor rather than another $4,000+ trip to the ER.

The point I desire to make is that on both occasions the desire to discover whether we were paying customers and with proper identification was equally as swift as the treatment we received. Did this upset me, no it is just common sense business practice that I have encountered with my trips to any medical facility over my entire lifetime. This is true at a doctor’s, dentist’s, specialist office, hospital or any other health care provider. They have the right to know how they are to be paid.

With the knowledge that they will not be served without proof of payment, every freeloader in America disrupts normal emergency services with routine, non emergency, trips to the ER’s of America. Folks this is not rocket science and it happens 24/7 across this nation that is broke.

I recently visited with someone in one of America’s largest cities that works in an emergency room. I am certain what I am going to describe are actual facts that happen thousands of time every day. “A well dressed woman brought in a child for ER treatment. She had a designer handbag, cell phone and expensive accessories in plain view. When the doctor told her that the child had a cold and needed to be given over the counter medication, she went ballistic demanding that the doctor provide a prescription. Her reasoning shared with the doctor was that without a written prescription she could not get the medication free as she had no insurance”.

Now let us look at this example of this event. Should the doctor refuse the demand what will happen? His next contact would be with a probable law suit for the refusal to provide ER service. I have five doctors in my immediate family and know what malpractice insurance costs. Lawyers have forced the medical industry to waste trillions and are the primary reason we face run-away costs for healthcare. To be fair, I also have two lawyers and another half way through law school in my family. Thank God they do not prey on healthcare to make a living.

I challenge everyone that reads this posting to go to the local emergency room for a couple of hours and just observe and ask questions. If this does not convince you that the Congress must address fixing Medicaid, passing tort reform and controlling the illegal’s, you are an idiot like the ones who designed Medicaid.

Nothing will happen until enough people who have to pay for this debacle rise up and scream at the top of their lungs. I encourage you to send a copy of this post to your Congressman and your State Representative/Senator to prove me wrong with facts. I will do this also. If just one Representative or Senator will look into this situation and force the media to get involved, something might happen.

If Congress or the States ignore this waste, we the people, have the ultimate power to use the ballot box again to demand common sense.

C Brewer