[RN4MERCY]

Originally Posted by calliesue

I know this thread is old but I still have something to say.
Ok to all you people griping about "free health Care", and non emergency er visits.
Do you think people should be denied care because they are poor?
PCP? If you don't have insurance you probably don't have a pcp.
If your choice is pay the electric bill or feed the kids or go to a doctor for a chronic problem that you don't understand is a sign of a serious health problem, what decision would you make ?
I guess you would be between a rock and a hard place. Can't tell you how many people I know who make their bills, barely, but can't afford the crap insurance provided to non-nurses in the health care industry. Ironically they make too much for government asst,
Since there is such a gap shouldn't those of us who can help do so?
I mean isn't caring for the sick and indigent a moral imperative for a "Christian nation" ?

As progressives, we realize we're all in this together. Do unto others, and first do no harm. All the other civilized, industrialized nations provide medically necessary healthcare on a single-payer model for their residents as a right!

“To each, according to his needs irrespective of his ability
to pay, a system of health care from the cradle to the grave,
free at the point of delivery. Paid for by social insurance
where care is based upon clinical need.” Ernest Bevin, 1946

[HM2Viking]

You Marxist. How on earth can we ever afford that? Why people will go to the doctor willy nilly....The market can save us all.....

(I am most assuredly being facetious!)

Great quote that says it all.............

[lamazeteacher]

I mean isn't caring for the sick and indigent a moral imperative for a "Christian nation" ?

It certainly is for a Jewish one - Israel. Anyone, including those rabidly opposed to that country receive free care there: Muslim Arabs, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindis, atheists........ and it's appreciated. Some of it is funded by American Zionists, who support Haddassah hospitals and clinics as well as American charitable causes. The funds are raised by mostly Jewish women who are wealthy and those of more modest means, by having luncheons, fund raising events, and the usual bake sales and rummage sales. Their purpose is to portray the necessity and possibility of providing health care for all, no matter their affiliation. History has shown enough inequity in the name of Christianity, for all time.
Now it is time to be caring of others, for our own sakes, as well as theirs, as circumstances reverse all too quickly (e.g. people newly homeless due to banks forclosing loans, the terms of which should be illegal).

Insurance comopanies are now providing education for their "members", so they will get preventive care that will be less expensive in the long run, and monitoring people with chronic illnesses to encourage compliance with their medical regime. If/ when those people retire (and as is expected Medicare becomes bankrupt), or lose their employment and insurance, it is doubtful that their illness(es) will be kept in abeyance. So they'll be bonafide patients in crowded ER waiting rooms anyway. There is much wrong with that picture!!

If education for children is important enough to be provided by civic/government funded programs, so should the education to prevent illness/worsening of illness. The former education provides a foundation for gainful employment and inclusion in life. The latter education keeps people working longer and includes them in healthy endeavors and in the mainstream of life.

Is that pie in the sky? Will some refuse to do what is necessary to accomplish their goal? Sure they will......... and they'll be provided with more education to assist them in making decisions for themselves, to make better decisions. I like that picture.

The picture provided by the ER staff members who think people "take advantage" of what is given "free" is negative thinking that reflects self fulfiling prophesies that patients where they work, perceive and obediently bring to fruition. Negativity breeds negativity. When thoughts are positive, ("You can do this"), it usually happens.

DM is a "case in point". Those who are overweight or obese are told that they are going to have diabetes. So they don't realize that it's a choice they have. They can lose weight and stay well, or they can gain more weight and get sick, with all that implies. Education makes the difference.

So learn to effectively teach all patients in a manner they can understand (not the same for all), the pathway to health, whether they can afford it, appreciate it, utilize it, or not. Eventually it will reward society by costing us all less.

[RN4MERCY]

Some people seem to believe that hospitals are a "vacation destination." Overuse and frequent fliers? I say no, just real people with unmet needs and nowhere else to go for help. They forget that most people aren't qualified to diagnose and treat their own illness or injury. Patients go to hospitals because they need care. As a nation, we've got to stop allowing "the market" to control access. It's unjust and morally wrong to commodify health care and allow corporations to profit by exclusion of pre-existing conditions to outright denial of claims.

No nurse or physician should ever be compelled to deny care to those who need it. Blaming the victim and making assumptions about people is dangerous. Co-pays and deductibles ration many people out of the system. They are among the many barriers to people who seek the health care they need.

How can we ever forget the sad story about the poor lady who writhed in the ER and died on the floor of the waiting room of a perforated intestine--nurses and doctors and orderlies stepped over her, assuming that she was a malingerer with drug seeking behaviors. Her boyfriend called 911 in order to get some help, after hours of waiting for hospital personnel to take her pain and suffering seriously. Shameful and embarrassing.