Quote:Just to be fair if you're counting the emergency rooms as providing healthcare it's not exactly a fair comparison. Sure they'll check you over and if it you're not going to die on the table they send you home and tell you to see a specialist. You won't get anywhere going to hospitals except near bankruptcy without insurance.

 

I don't have a problem with for profit health care system in fact I support them over government ran systems but I won't pretend we offer "free" healthcare for the uninsured via emergency rooms. That's like saying the tow truck that the city sends out to pick your car up off the highway (and then sends you the bill) is paying to fix your car.

 

As the guy who authorizes the write offs for my company I can tell you that much of what is billed to patients without insurance is either reduced for a "prompt payment" discount or means tested for a charity reduction if the patient complies with the process. I write off millions of dollars every year, both for inpatient and outpatient services.

 

And we shouldn't offer "free" health care at the ED, it's not a clinic. The services provided there are some of the most expensive per unit in the entire industry, using it for non-emergent care is part of the reason why prices in other departments are higher, someone has to subsidize the waste. What we ought to do is put a free standing 24 hour Urgent Care center within one block of every ER in the city then train the patient population to go there first for triage, treatment or referral. The operational cost would be a quarter of the cost of a hospital ED.

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