In an interview with 60 Minutes, Mitt Romney discussed the government's responsibility when it comes to the millions of uninsured Americans. His take: "Well, we do provide care for people who don’t have insurance, people — we — If someone has a heart attack, they don't sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care." Romney previously offered up a different stance on ERs, and we'll talk about that tonight at 10pm ET. More headlines:
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On Christmas Day, 2005, i almost died from blood poisoning from a gangrene big toe caused by diabetes and a lot of denial thanks to being an active alcoholic (been sober ever since). Even though i had COBRA from a recently ended job, I was afraid to go to the hospital because I knew i was going to have to start dealin’ wit’ all my issues...if i survived. I finally called 911 (actually 411, but that’s a funny story for another time). The paramedics were pleasantly surprised to learn that i had insurance, and took me to the best hospital in the Philadelphia area. After removing the big toe, they did dozens of tests to see how much poison i had in my system and how to best deal wit’ it, I ended up in the hospital for a total of around 2 weeks,. then was transferred to a nursing home for another month and change, where they slowly flushed the gangrene out of me via IV, while i got my strength and health back and my body adjusted to sobriety. So I was in medical care from Dec 25th to Feb 15th, i believe, plus having a home care nurse come once a week for another month or so to help me clean the hole where my big toe used to be.
THIS WAS ALL COVERED BECAUSE I STILL HAD INSURANCE. Would you like to know what they would have done if i did NOT have health insurance? Good, i'll tell ya --
According to doctors and administrators, THEY WOULD HAVE CUT MY LEG OFF AT THE KNEE!!! This is how they would have prevented the gangrene from spreading wit’out spending tens of tens of tens of thousands of dollars on testing that i could never have paid for. Not exactly the same thing.
In the past almost 7 years, i’ve still had to have many more surgeries, eleven more, including losing the remaining toes on that foot. But a toeless foot still beats losing over half a leg . So when I hear someone in the GOP still giving the same ole story of the emergency room being as good of an alternative, you can probably guess where I'd like to swiftly insert said toeless foot.
Congratulations on your sobriety; it takes what it takes and don't listen to our resident zombie troll on the subject (I've been sober since the Carter Administration, BTW, and I still go to meetings).
I got a lot of help and support my first few years, and I'm grateful for it. The rest of the world doesn't grasp the "alternative" reality the disease leads us into without our knowledge. The few I've seen who do relate--besides alcoholics/addicts in recovery--are those who've left behind the strict regimented thinking of rigid religious upbringings. Perceptually, it's a whole different world...
Both from a humanitarian and economic standpoint, it makes sense to provide prophylactic care (and state-of-the-science treatment for all diseases, not just the ones that respond to medication). While I hate to think of the costs one individual I knew generated (before dying of the disease), it would've been worse except for periods of abstinence...
Keep growing and speak your truth quietly and firmly.
What a crock! First of all, any EMT worth their salt would have recognized you had a limb, if not life threatening emergency, and transported you to medical care appropriate to the circumstances, even if you were in a homeless shelter. And any hospital social worker would have you established on Medicaid in a heart beat.. And appropriate care would have been delivered which would have been the least minimally invasive possible.
I(n case of point however, alcoholics and drug addicts are some of the heaviest users of medical services, and especially emergency services in this nation, that denies no one energencyand appropriate medical care.
BTW, your attitude seems to me to be very much that of a "dry drunk"; I believe you still have some serious rehabilitative work to do, Mitch!
Oh Keys2Laundrey is now a doctor and an Emergency Room expert!
This is a typical story from the Emergency Room. They are not there to treat disease. They are there only for emergencies. Hence the name. If someone is bleeding, or about to die they treat them, and release them. That is their model.
Many people have died in the Emergency Room or because of poor treatment in the Emergency Room when they were not given preventative medicine that they would have received if they had gone to a regular doctor.
The Emergency Room is for emergency procedures only.
Mitch,
I am glad you received the medical assistance you needed. Things may have improved somewhat since 2005 - Medicare started requiring hospitals to report data on some critical issues (which helps everyone) - then they started publishing the data on the internet. Of course, had you needed it, Medicaid might very well have been provided in a timely manner - of course the states have a great deal of control over distribution of funds and eligibility. "In a heartbeat" - well - perhaps to take your application, but processing would be between 10-90 days depending on the state. If you could show that the application was in the "works" one might be in a better position, since past due medical bills may be covered upon acceptance.
Here is a link to a summary of a study done in the early 2000's on hospital treatment for those without insurance - you might want to it check out.
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2002/Care-Without-Coverage-Too-Little-Too-Late.aspx
Consider posting here more often.
Adam_Selene