Stepping up to the plate

If the government won’t help, then everyone else needs to step up to the plate. That’s what hospitals in several states are doing. According to the NY Times article, Hospitals Try Free Basic Care for Uninsured, several hospitals systems around the nation have realized it is cheaper to provide free preventative care to the uninsured than pay for the costs of frequent emergency visits.

We all know each time we go to the emergency room, we are charged an arm & a leg --- and most of the cases that appear in the emergency room can be prevented. But with almost 47M people uninsured, many can’t afford to go to the doctors (especially if the doctor visits are over $100/visit).

Now the hospitals are filling the void our government won’t fill--- they are providing free preventative care. Granted, one reason the hospital systems might be doing this is to protect their bottom line—but hey, if it helps the community at large—go for it! (It’s better than what our government is doing at the moment).

Btw, I found it very interesting how Texas, our president’s home state, seems to have the highest percentage of uninsured people (24.5%) according to the graphic in the article. And the US has reached “a record 46.6 million [uninsured]last year, up by 7 million from 2000.” Our current president, the former governor of Texas, has been in office since 2000.

Interesting.