9 patients made nearly 2,700 ER visits in Austin, Texas

[ChooseLiberty]

Uh huh.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090402/ap_on_re_us/frequent_er_patients

[jrich4rpaul]

I sure can't wait for universal health care...

[LibertyEagle]

Yeah, and it pisses me off too. Because the hospital sticks it to those with crummy insurance, in their quest to recoup the money they lost on the deadbeats. :mad:

[Deborah K]

Eight out of nine of them are drug addicts.......great.....

[Madcat455]

Didn't read the article.. but it doesn't surprise me.


Wife is an RN for a hosp, and her co-workers(in the ER.. Wife is in Oncology) say that the illegals, and ppl with no ins will use the ER as their regular Doc.. cause they can't turn them away for not being able to pay.


:mad:

[idiom]

The average emergency room visit costs $1,000. Hospitals and taxpayers paid the bill through government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, Kitchen said.

Seriously, a universal GP program costs a lot less.

[tangent4ronpaul]

Umm. - I just did the math and am calling BS! - that's 8.3 visits PER DAY, PER PATIENT!

maybe I hit the wrong key on the calc or something, but I don't think so...

-t

[Golding]

Umm. - I just did the math and am calling BS! - that's 8.3 visits PER DAY, PER PATIENT!

maybe I hit the wrong key on the calc or something, but I don't think so...

-tOn average, these people were visiting the hospital once per week.

Over 6 years, 9 people amounted a total of 2700 visits.

2700 visits/6 years = 450 visits per year.
450 visits per year/9 people = 50 visits per year per person.
With 52 weeks in a year...

[tangent4ronpaul]

OK - I hit the wrong key somewhere...

thanks for the correction. Still, that's a hell of a lot of visits!

-t

[ChooseLiberty]

Either Universal Health or back to Libertarian would both be much cheaper.

The current system is the least efficient/most expensive, yet the Repub shill's like Hannity spend a crazy amout of effort defending it. Qui Bono?

Practically, I don't think the US is going to free market Health anytime soon.




Seriously, a universal GP program costs a lot less.

[Kludge]

Only $3,000,000, and this is news?

The president spends well over 10x that to throw a party.

[constituent]

Only $3,000,000, and this is news?

The president well over 10x that to throw a party.

it's an issue of focus.

divide and conquer.

i think this thread has already seen jabs at "the poor," "drug addicts" and "illegals."

we're still on page 1.