Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
On one hand, I agree with you. A lot of what I see in the ED is self inflicted - smoking and obesity being the two biggest issues.
OTOH, how are you going to design a system that sorts out the sheep from the goats? I see a fair number of "innocent" trauma patients - usually ones that are hit by drunk drivers. In our state, for any kind of real car accident that requires an ambulance run, you're looking at $10000 BEFORE I SEE YOU OR ORDER A TEST. If you're working at Wal-Mart as a single mother, you're screwed.
And don't believe that having insurance means you're covered. God help you if you're stuck with B--- Cr--- or
B--- Sh----, at least in my state. My group ended up suing the [censored] just to get coverage that we had paid for. Most people don't have the ability (meaning $$) to go after them - we actually lost money on the legal expenses, but we were so pissed off, we thought it was worth it.
I don't have a solution. But the boat is sinking. The water's at our knees, and no one is even looking for a pump.
MM MD
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