Parkland Bond Issue = Higher Property Taxes: I’m Voting No
After reading this article in today’s DMN, I am concerned the bond issue to build a new Parkland Hospital costing 1.3 billion is going to make us look back someday wistfully on 2008 property taxes and pine for the good days. Here’s what has my blood pressure elevated: a healthy young woman goes to Parkland’s ER with a lower leg fracture, weekday night. She waited 23 hours, never received care, was charged $162 for an assessment. Unless you have been asleep for the last 10 years, you must know that seeking medical care in the emergency room is the most expensive and tedious place to seek it — expensive because ERs are designed for life threatening emergencies, which are treated first. (And sometimes they cannot even get to the acute — like former restaurateur Mike Herrera who, also uninsured, checked in for stomach pains then suffered cardiac arrest at Parkland. Mr. Herrera was 58 years old.) Who does this young woman think pays salaries of the evaluating nurses? Who pays for the cooled air in Parkland’s waiting room? The kiosk she registered in, plastic chair she sat on, sanitized periodically by a janitor? This young gal is 29, has no insurance. She hurt her leg playing volleyball. Amazingly, she is a student at a chiropractic school which might lead you to believe she is somewhat intelligent, and can afford tuition. Yet she cannot afford $177 per month for health insurance (cost of my 27 year old daughter’s policy). And even more amazing, being in the health care field, she should understand that Parkland’s ER is the LAST place you want to go unless you are brought there on a stretcher. She said she will not pay the $162. Which got me thinking: 28 percent more beds at Parkland, young healthy people too selfish to buy health insurance or pay the equivalent of what they might pay for a few hair stylings, who’s going to pay for those nurse assessments and keep the lights on at Parkland when ladies like Amber Milbrodt play too hard on the volleyball court?
You and me, baby. �
Update: this story was also run on MSNBC.
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This might be a stupid question but if you do have insurance will you still wait 23 hours in the ER? Or do they only make people without insurance wait?
It’s my understanding you can’t be turned away from any hospital without insurance, thus the long wait at Parkland. Why didn’t she go to Presby? or Baylor? What about one of those neighborhood medical facilities that are independent? Couldn’t one of those have helped her?
Correct: you cannot be turned away from any hospital regardless of your ability to pay your bill. Many people know that and use the ER for routine health care, another reason why they are so clogged. Yes, this woman could have gone elsewhere — likely a shorter wait — she would have been billed later. My point: personal responsibility — buy insurance, which is usually cheap for young people. Another stupid insurance rule is that once a child hits the age of 25 (in Texas, the age varies from state to state) they can no longer be covered on their parents’ health insurance policy, they must have their own. If parents want to continue to pay for a dependents’ insurance policy, what’s the deal? That’s revenue for the insurer and coverage for the patient. They make these rules that steer people to irresponsible behavior and then when we need a bail-out, it costs us all money. Sound familiar?
Enjoy the read about EMTALA
http://www.emtala.com/
To your comments, AMEN! Maybe if people know that they have to pay for triage services, they won’t go to Parkland for sore throat.