As a customer/victim/patient/consumer/care-giver/general observer/ of several health care delivery systems around the country, I can tell you one thing, from personal experience, if I come in for a crash landing and the aid crew asks me which hospital to be taken to, I can tell you from personal experience, I will choose "Saint Whachamacallit's" over "City General" ANY TIME! If I am bleeding, broken and mashed, I would rather be in a Catholic institution where they ask you "Where does it hurt and How can I help you?" before "Who is your insurance carrier?" As a mother of two children, a former scout leader, and Little League volunteer, the most important thing is to get the child treated and comforted. The bill can be settled later. When Haruo broke his ankle in three places a few years ago, he had recently been laid off from his position of 13 years. He had NO medical coverage and we made do with advanced first aid for a few days while we hoped it was just a bad sprain.
I had foot surgery (both feet) in 1985, and while IBM paid the bill, I remember what the charges were, and they were enormous for surgery and 3 days stay in the hospital with a cast on each foot and wheel chair rental for 6 weeks etc.... So when he made a few phone calls and was referred to Swedish Hospital in Seattle (Where I was born by the way, to a humble but college educated chicken farmer and his wife in the hills East of Seattle). When I got word of what xray s showed I had visions of bills that would ruin us financially and we would have to say goodbye to the tumbledown mess of a little house we call home. Before he went into surgery, a social worker visited us and helped us with paperwork to explain our tenuous situation to the committee that has a nice fat endowment to help pay expenses of those who are without resources. By the time he came out from under the gas 9 hours later with 3 titanium plates and more screws than I could count rebuilding a horribly fractured ankle, I found out there would be no charge for his hospital stay. I had visions of us having to move from our house to some assisted living center for the indigent ---- instead, thanks to that Non Profit hospital, today he works a full time job on his feet at the grocery store, and we STILL live under our own roof, leaky as it is getting, at least it is still ours to fix. Thanks to the help I am getting from counselors at the Veteran's Administration, and a Tai Chi class taught by a Viet Nam vet, and a boatload of pills to slow down my seizures, when the sun came out today I was able to haul a few 2x4s and start fixing the fence that blew over in a storm. In a house that's 10 years older than we are, you have to expect a few wobbles and surprises.
Health care is a lot more than dollars and cents. It's healing the sick and mending the broken.
Don't despair if your job and your rewards are few, remember that the mighty oak was once a nut like you!