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Should the federal mandate to treat the uninsured at ERs be repealed?

Should ERs be required to treat everyone regardless of their ability to pay?

  • I support the individual mandate & ER required to treat all

    Votes: 3 25.0%
  • I oppose the individual mandate but support ERs required to treat all

    Votes: 4 33.3%
  • I oppose both the individual mandate and ERs required to treat all

    Votes: 1 8.3%
  • I support the individual mandate but oppose ERs required to treat all

    Votes: 1 8.3%
  • I hated the POTUS before Obamacare and want him to fail, period

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 3 25.0%

  • Total voters
    12

Smeagol

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We have what I consider to be an extremely curious situation in American healthcare where hospitals are required by federal law to treat everyone who shows up with or without the ability to pay. However, there is a large portion of Americans (nearly all of whom oddly have Heath insurance themselves) who are passionate that uninsured people not be required to have healthcare coverage in advance of showing up at the ER. I just find the whole idea a huge contradiction and to keep from making assumptions I figured it would be best to let people who hold that passionate position offer an explanation as to why.
 
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No one should be turned away for ER. No exceptions.
 
My answer is no as there will be a presumption that you are uninsured if you do not have your health insurance card on you at the time you go to the ER. I do, however, think that people who go there for non-emergency care should be assessed a penalty that they have to pay out of pocket.
 
Yes--since these are the same people who are against Obamacare and paying their fair share--let them prove they cannot afford health care--let them enroll in wellness programs--time for all freebies to end, especially to those who can afford it
 
We have what I consider to be an extremely curious situation in American healthcare where hospitals are required by federal law to treat everyone who shows up with or without the ability to pay. However, there is a rage portion of Americans (nearly all of whom oddly have Heath insurance) are passionate that uninsured people not be required to have healthcare coverage in advance of showing up at the ER. I just find the whole idea a huge contradiction and to keep from making assumptions I figured it would be best to let people who hold that passionate position offer an explanation as to why.

OK try this scenario. An unidentifiable kid, approximately 8 years old, is bumped by a car as they dart into the roadway, from between to parked cars. The kid is in obvious serious medical distress so the driver takes them straight to the ER not knowing who they are. Do you treat them immediately or just wait until positive ID and their insurance information is available?

Many times ER patients are in no shape to answer questions and delay in treatment may prove fatal or allow an otherwise treatable condition (internal bleeding?) not to be noticed in time and they later die. I say treat them.
 
No one should be turned away for ER. No exceptions.

Healthcare shouldn't be administered in the emergency room as it most expensive and least effective way to do it. Relying on the emergency room for healthcare is every bit as foolish (and effective and efficient) as performing auto maintenance after you destroy your engine or transmission rather than changing your oil and performing routine maintenance.
 
The problem is that immigrants with huge families use the ER as a routine health clinic for free non-emergency treatment like they do in Mexico.

Their Spanish language brochures on beating the American system advise them to pursue this course of action for free treatment in America.

They have forced the closure of countless American ERs with this usage thereby truly harming those Americans who actually need immediate emergency medical treatment.
 
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A private hospital should not have to treat anybody they don't wish to. A public hospital should treat everyone regardless of ability to pay.
 
The problem is that immigrants with huge families use the ER as a routine health clinic for free non-emergency treatment like they do in Mexico.

They have forced the closure of countless American ERs with this usage thereby truly harming those Americans who actually need immediate emergency treatment.

Ray, that is only the tip of the iceberg.

Over 30 million American citizens are caught between the medicaid qualifications and the ability to afford insurance.
Some say it is far more than that but I will use the low end figure for the purpose of debate.
All of these people are FORCED to use the emergency room for any type of treatment they can get.
But that treatment is by far inadequate and equates to less than 3rd world care.

Say for example you have severe anal bleeding and go there hoping to get a 6 thousand dollar colonoscopy. (All this does is assist with a diagnosis, it is not a cure.)
You can not get that at the emergency room.
If you do manage to get the 6 grand (they will want it up front in advance), then you are diagnosed with stage 1 colon cancer, your out of luck.
You are stable. It is not immediately life threatening. Your trip to the ER is finished.
Know what they will do? They will take your blood pressure and your temperature and charge you $800.00 for that. (But they will at least bill you.)
To get the stage 1 cancer removed, it costs $108,000.00. And they will want that up front.
But here is the kicker... If you have insurance, your company will get the hospital to reduce your bill to $14,500.00

There is very little routine non emergency treatment that the emergency room can do.
They will not run tests, give preventative care, or perform surgeries for non immediate life threatening illnesses.
It is hardly a solution.
But it is not illegal aliens clogging up the system, not on a national level. It is American citizens that are too rich for medicaid and too poor for insurance.
In other words, it is the people who work. In many cases, work the hardest of us all.
Roofers, painters, carpenters, tile layers, waiters, bartenders, fast food, stockers, mechanics, and so on.
People who do not want welfare and work hard for a living. These people get less care than those who do nothing.
Those who do nothing get medicaid.
 
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No one should be turned away for ER. No exceptions.

I suppose it would come down to the definition of turned away. Everyone should have a diagnosis and be evaluated but not everyone should be treated. If you come in the ER with a cold they should kick your ass out. Life threatening conditions however should never be refused treatment. Any non emergency condition and you can wait until a normal clinic opens.
 
The requirement is NOT that they have to treat people w/o insurance, since some people without insurance can still pay for their treatment. The requirement is that ERs must treat people whose lives are in danger, regardless of ability to pay.

That law has nothing to do with the individual mandate in the ACA. The law is based on compassion and humanity. The ACA doesn't change the public policy on compassion and humanity. The individual mandate is an administrative law for which there is a monetary penalty, and has nothing to do with receiving health care.
 
the ER should be for emergencies, not primary care for the uninsured. my vote is that we enact real UHC so that no one is uninsured.
 
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