Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Politics


It is election day!! Go vote!

But I have to say neither candidate has a really good handle on the health care issue. And just cuz health care is sorta my life I wanted to bring up some facts that we went over yesterday in class...

Why people go to the ED:
- they have a true emergency
- they are traveling to that city and get sick
- lack of alternative access: uninsured, no PCP appointment available, PCP closed
- societal outcasts: homeless, illegal immigrants,etc
- drug seekers

Average cost of an EM visit: $383
Average cost of a PCP visit: $60
(although this is not comparing apples to apples---most people who visit the ED are generally sicker, although 55% of the 90 million ED visits were deemed unnecessary in 1996)

Number uninsured:
- 47 million uninsured

Who pays for the uninsured?
- The insured. Premiums and such don't just cover the individual needs. We're all paying for everyone to get medical help. The money has to come from some where

Why is this important?
--if the insured are paying for everyone else---wouldn't we all want everyone to be insured and then no one would be paying extra??

Just some food for thought!

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