And for how long are paramedics allowed to search your pockets for that waiver before they start CPR?
Except that you wouldn’t because folks who opted out would then be turbo screwed. They would die on the streets, and that would create a credible threat that would influence MOST people.
The problem today is that you are able to opt out of the responsible action, but then still not die on the street.
Fair question. I assume that such things would be governed by the same rules that govern the required waivers you sign when receiving medical care. In cases where you are incapacitated and unable to deal with them, they can operate without them.
But in cases where they establish that you have no insurance, and cannot pay, then you’re screwed.
Problem is that the costs are so out of control, the pricing so opaque, and the risks diffuse.
Also, for many people, the choice then becomes ‘do I buy insurance, or pay the rent/ buy groceries’. The net result is that people will still die because we create a capricious and callous system.
No, because for those people, government assistance through the ACA would provide money to pay for insurance.
Again, this would only apply to people who have enough money to purchase insurance, but choose not to, because they think they don’t need it.
This is one of the chief things put forth as an opposition to the ACA. “Why should I be forced to buy insurance if I don’t need it?” The obvious answer is that the point of insurance is that you are paying a fee for a service you don’t generally need, IN CASE you need it later. That’s what insurance is.
But if people want to roll the dice and take their chances, so be it… but we can’t have a system where they roll the dice, and then I pay for the losses their choices incur.
The only reform of the ACA that is going to work is to continue to take it closer and closer to Single Payer. But Healthcare in America doesn’t have to be run by the government, it doesn’t have to be a socialized handout paid for by taxes, it just has to stop being a quagmire of incomprehensible costs that fuck over the users of the system on a daily basis. You want to drain a swamp? The Healthcare industry is the place to start. Instead of Single Payer, think of it Single Cost.
If the base cost to have your broken arm set is the same in San Francisco as it is in Des Moines (adjusted slightly for cost of living in each area obviously), if two Tylenol 400mg tablets cost a realistic price at every single hospital, if medical equipment wasn’t marked up to ridiculous profit margins, if having the same set of tests done by the same types of technicians on the same types of lab equipment cost exactly the same across the spectrum, then the health insurance industry could cost analyze a hell of a lot better and costs would come way down across the board. The reason insurance is so expensive is because care is so expensive. Bring the cost of care into line with reality, and costs of everything will drop. Industry reform is needed to do this, and it doesn’t just mean slashing prices, it means re-examining the way hospitals and doctors offices work, the way insurance works and the way that costs associated with practices, such as medical malpractice insurance works.
Problem is, that’s way too big a job for Washington when you only get 2-4 years of control over legislation before your opponents show up and undo everything you’ve done for the sake of “progress”.
I spoke to some Trumpists today at lunch. I told them the Republicans voted to repeal Obamacare. Fuck yea! I asked them how long have they had health insurance? About four years! I then told them reason they had insurance at all was their small sized employer was legally required to give it to them under Obamacare. Crickets and worried faces.
Yes, it was worth it.
Two men walk into the ER with sudden chest pain. The first one says he left his insurance info at home. He is telling the truth. The second one says the same thing, but he is lying, broke and has no insurance.
Who gets treatment for their heart attack?
It’s pretty trivial to look up someone’s insurance information.
Assuming they’re able to tell you, sure.
I don’t hate your plan in concept, but I could easily see people getting killed by it or people just getting around it by using systems that would likely exist to avoid people getting killed by it. Though you could always bill those people after the fact and bankrupt them, I guess.
Again, try to keep in mind the context here is as a way to preserve the ACA by eliminating the chief argument made against it.
It’s not as trivial as you think. And for some medical emergencies, every minute counts.
Next time you visit a doctor for the very first time, try telling the receptionist you didn’t bring any insurance info but it’s trivial for them to find it. The response may surprise you.
I actually did exactly this. I told them my name and my insurance company, and they found the records in a few minutes.
And how many minutes are you willing to wait until someone treats your heart attack?
Furthermore, you correctly identified your insurance carrier. Not every old guy having a heart attack can.
People dying because of their bad decisions is a feature not a bug in that plan.
And honestly he might be right. Trump voters tend to be the kind who recall with relish how their pa (ok I’m being judgemental) used to whoop their hide ‘cause they were trouble makin’ boys that played punched people in the face till they were unconcious or ran through a t-intersection into a cotton field going 90miles an hour flipping and totallkng their truck (all true to life stories if you couldn’t tell). And look forward to treating their own hellion children with the same paddle and switch.
It reminds me of that Buddhist idea that some people have to be scared straight, or driven like cattle to the sunshine by the switch.
Use biometrics then. This isn’t some kind of unsolvable problem.
Given that there are already alternative systems out there that function in other countries with lower costs, and without needing to resort to, frankly, barbaric methods of social Darwinism? Why the hell is this even an option.
Granted no system is perfect, but I’d take Canada or Germany wholesale over ours. Single payer, it is the only sane and humane answer.
Any solution, even an imaginary biometric database that somehow captures every single person in the US (which by itself poses huge problems), causes delay in treatment.
Timex, imagine that people were so concerned about police use of force that a new rule were suggested. Before a cop could unholster their sidearm, they would have to call their supervisor for permission. A few minutes delay, no more. What’s the harm? I think you know how that would go over. Minutes mean life or death to cops. And also to ER docs.
I went to the ER last week, because I cut most of my fingernail off while chopping veggies. And I just told them my name and birthdate, and they said you work at Company X? I said yes, and they sent me back for triage.
I also have my insurance cards, but they didn’t need it.