If you think health care is expensive now, just wait till it's free. Jeff
-----Original Message----- From: Edmund Storms [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 11:10 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Vo]:OFF TOPIC A friend without health insurance This is indeed a sad story, Jed, that is repeated many times each day. The basic problem is that the American people have accepted the idea that life in this country should be based mainly on the individual effort, with socialism being un-American. Liberalism, which tries to use the state to protect the individual, is considered a dirty word. These ideas are accepted by the ordinary working person even though this is not in their self-interest to do so. Your friend probably even voted for Bush and would not support a politician who proposed socialized medicine, even though variations of this approach work well in other countries. We get what we vote for. If we are too ignorant to vote wisely, we get the government we deserve. Hopefully, the pain inflicted by the Bush philosophy will cause people to reexamine their criteria for voting. Ed Jed Rothwell wrote: > A friend of mine in his 50s has no health insurance. Normally this is > not a problem because he is a vet who goes to the VA hospital. He has a > lot or problems, including some service related ones. The other day he > suffered from a minor stroke and passed out while at a Lowe's hardware > superstore. They called an ambulance, which took him to Grady Hospital, > because that is usually the only hospital in Atlanta that take uninsured > patients. He was there for 4 days, mostly doped up or asleep to keep him > from moving. He is much better now. > > At Grady they did not have to do much for him other than to take some > cat scans and keep him immobilized. They sent him home and he went to > the VA hospital a few days later, where they did a bunch more tests and > declared him okay. > > Anyway, the point of this story is to relate the appalling fact that > Grady just sent him a bill for $82,000. This is an self-employed, > ordinary, middle class guy who probably doesn't earn that much in a > year. In other words, four days of hospitalization for a relatively > minor health problem cost enough to bankrupt an ordinary person. This is > insane. The U.S. healthcare system is unsustainable. > > Bush correctly pointed out that anyone in the U.S., even an uninsured > poor person, can get healthcare at an emergency room, just as my friend > did. He did not say that after a few days in the hospital you will be > billed more than your net worth, and then hounded by bill collectors > until they run you out of house and home. > > - Jed > > No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.2/1388 - Release Date: 4/20/2008 3:01 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.2/1388 - Release Date: 4/20/2008 3:01 PM
