Some thoughts on Yves Smiths How the Discharged Ebola Patient Demonstrates the Danger of Corporatized Medicine
This week Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, died. A Dallas-area hospital initially turned him away, and his death has raised questions about what might have happened if he had been diagnosed and admitted to the hospital sooner.
Poor and uninsured, Mr. Duncan presented a financial dilemma for the Dallas hospital. Even if he had insurance, private health insurers often refuse to pay emergency room providers for treatment of medical conditions that are not deemed to be sufficiently dire as to be considered an emergency. Presenting with flu symptoms does not as a rule constitute a billable emergency and as such only a non-emergency primary care provider would be paid by an insurer. As to who will pay the $500,000 for his subsequent care, I do not know but I hope for all our sakes an answer will be forthcoming.
With flu season fast approaching, this should get interesting. I’m guessing our gleaming, “best in the world”, certainly most expensive, high tech health care system with its byzantine payment schemes and unconscionable exclusions will be found wanting and in need of some adjustments.
Let us hope we are not waiting for market forces to provide accurate price discovery for pandemic/Ebola remediation/prevention in the hope that then all will be right with the world again.
Maybe a deadly pandemic is the only route to quality universal healthcare in this country. OTOH, if the ’08 crash is any indication….
I would also recommend today's Science Friday discussion of the topic in which the need for a strong centralized, international governmental response is called for and a rapid test protocol are discussed.
Stay healthy out there.