Docs protest stealth calls on access for patients | The Columbus Dispatch

Reader wrote:

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Imagine not being able to walk in--because of the sign that says that if your condition is not life threatening you must have insurance or $250 cash.

sam s wrote:

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The government can't run what it runs now. How is a goverment payer better. Look at the mess they have doing what they do now. Btw a pew poll found that over 50 percent of companies are going out of the health insurance business. Not just little companies. Verizon is one of them

Just Saying wrote:

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Illegal in this state.

reality check wrote:

..........then why don't we give weapons to mexican drug cartels..........

Just Saying wrote:

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Illegal in this state.

Reader wrote:

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Not so sure. That exact sign used to hang in a local ER.
Hospitals are not required to provide care to anyone who does not present with a life-threatening condition.
And having recently accompanied someone who did in fact have a life-threatening condition I can attest that even then there was a business office representative right there along with the health care personnel to ensure collection upfront of the insurance co-pay.

Reader wrote:

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I would love to see the poll. One question that I have has to do with the extent to which the companies are currently "in" the "health insurance business." Many large companies, particularly if they employ a lot of part-time, unskilled, or othewise low-paid workers will advertise "health benefits," which only means that the worker has the option of purchasing through the company something which they cannot afford. Wal-Mart is famous for the large numbers of their employees who qualify for Medicaid and other government subsidy programs.
People love to badmouth the government. For years the Postal Service was offered up as the classic example of government sloth and waste. Never mind that the Post Office has ALWAYS been required to operate in the black with no tax support--and managed to do so while paying its employees a fair wage. And until the advent of the internet and email (and possibly to a less extent FedEx and the like), it was the sole undisputed vehicle for delivery of every business document in the country. A postmark was considered an absolute form of documentation that could be relied upon.
Similarly both Medicare and Medicaid have had tremendous impact on the health of specific populations--and the income of a good many providers as well. Before you dismiss them as being slow, low or unreliable payers, ask yourself why Children's Hospital has gone to such great lengths to become the sole Medicaid provider to children in Central Ohio. And if you drive by the corner of Livingston and Parsons you may note that they haven't done too badly by that strategy.
Fine--if you don't want the government to become a single payer, then start requiring a defined contribution from employers. But so long as the government is the payer of last resort and no meaningful requirements placed on businesses, then business is going to find ever more creative ways to dump on government.

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Reader wrote:

<quoted text>Imagine not being able to walk in--because of the sign that says that if your condition is not life threatening you must have insurance or $250 cash.

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Reader wrote:

<quoted text>I would love to see the poll. One question that I have has to do with the extent to which the companies are currently "in" the "health insurance business." Many large companies, particularly if they employ a lot of part-time, unskilled, or othewise low-paid workers will advertise "health benefits," which only means that the worker has the option of purchasing through the company something which they cannot afford. Wal-Mart is famous for the large numbers of their employees who qualify for Medicaid and other government subsidy programs.

People love to badmouth the government. For years the Postal Service was offered up as the classic example of government sloth and waste. Never mind that the Post Office has ALWAYS been required to operate in the black with no tax support--and managed to do so while paying its employees a fair wage. And until the advent of the internet and email (and possibly to a less extent FedEx and the like), it was the sole undisputed vehicle for delivery of every business document in the country. A postmark was considered an absolute form of documentation that could be relied upon.

Similarly both Medicare and Medicaid have had tremendous impact on the health of specific populations--and the income of a good many providers as well. Before you dismiss them as being slow, low or unreliable payers, ask yourself why Children's Hospital has gone to such great lengths to become the sole Medicaid provider to children in Central Ohio. And if you drive by the corner of Livingston and Parsons you may note that they haven't done too badly by that strategy.

Fine--if you don't want the government to become a single payer, then start requiring a defined contribution from employers. But so long as the government is the payer of last resort and no meaningful requirements placed on businesses, then business is going to find ever more creative ways to dump on government.