The They Can Get Help Falacy

In the health care debate there are those who argue that it is not necessary as people can already get medical treatment by visiting an ER as hospitals cannot deny them. This perception is both partly true and false. It is true that hospital ER rooms cannot deny a person who has a life threatening condition. They are required to offer treatment but only to the point where the person is no longer in the life threatening condition. Hence, a woman can receive care when she is starting to deliver her baby, but she cannot receive any treatment before that moment, and if the baby is born and mother and child well, they are quickly released.

Is the service that the hospital provides really free? No. The hospital will still go after the patient for the cost of the bare minimum to stabilize them. They will be billed and if the bills go unpaid and there are assets to which a lean can be attached, a lean is attached. If the person has a job, their salary will be garnered. The collections process adds costs and overhead to the hospital. What remains uncollected is still recovered by the hospital. The hospital does provide medical charity. It is a profit making venture and its losses are charged off in the fees charged to other patients.

For those who lack health insurance there is a double whammy, they get charged a higher rate for that which they cannot afford. We have several bills from my wife’s recent annual check-up. Each of the half-dozen items are discounted from 35 to 50% off which the insurance plan pays 80% leaving us with the remaining 20%. For example the one item that was billed at $323 was discounted to $170 with the plan paying $136 leaving us to pay $34. If we did not have medical insurance there would be no discount and would owe $323. Hence, those cannot afford medical insurance, or are denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition, or who have changed jobs and have yet to get beyond the 90 day, or 120 day or 180 day wait period, for that which they cannot afford in the first place are charged a much higher rate.

By the way, if she used a provider not approved by the plan (less than a third of the doctors in our area are approved) then the discount would be far less and our portion would be 30 or 40% depending on the nature of the item.