Thread: 32 percent of patients shoulder burden of health care costs

32 percent of patients shoulder burden of health care costs
By MCKENZIE CASSIDY - mcassidy@breezenewspapers.com
9:11 p.m., Wednesday, August 27, 2008

BONITA SPRINGS — The Lee Memorial Health System and other hospital systems throughout the United States are facing a dilemma. They have an ethical obligation to treat the hundreds of uninsured patients who walk into one of its hospital campuses in the region, but at the same time they are facing a population unable to pay.

A number of political and economic reasons may factor into why more people than ever are being treated without insurance.

For one, the unemployment rate in Lee County has been reported as high as 8.4 percent, which is devastating for many people depending on employment-based insurance. The real estate crash coupled with inflation also has forced many local businesses to slash employee hours or begin laying off.

Traditionally, the extremely indigent have used emergency rooms or walk-in clinics to receive routine or preventative care. They’re residents who live far below the poverty line or undocumented immigrants with no chance of receiving state aid.

An emergency room can’t turn away any patient for not having insurance, and walk-in clinics will substitute a minimal fee for insurance coverage.

Many of those who are out-of-work have turned to these walk-in clinics, according to health officials, as an alternative to the emergency room. In south Lee County alone, there are three — Estero Urgent Care, NCH Healthcare System: Wound Healing Center Bonita Springs, and the Bonita Community Health Center.

“With your unemployment growth, there will be more people who use the ER because they don’t have a family doctor,â€

IF THE MINIMUM WAGE WAS A LIVING WAGE, THAT WOULD RAISE ALL WAGES ABOVE THAT. THE MINIMUM WAGE ACTUALLY IS THE BASE FOR ALL OTHER WAGES. RAISE THAT AND EVERYONE ENDS UP GETTING A RAISE.

TAKE ALL THE ILLEGAL WORKERS OUT OF THE PICTURE AND THERE WILL BE JOBS. DECENT PAYING JOBS FOR AMERICANS WOULD HELP MANY TO AFFORD HEALTH INSURANCE. THERE WOULD STILL BE SOME WHO WOULD NEED ASSISTANCE, BUT NOT SO MANY.

ALSO IF YOU TAKE THE ILLEGALS OUT OF THE PICTURE NOT SO MUCH MONEY WOULD BE FUNNELED OUT OF THE COUNTRY INTO OTHER ECONOMIES. IF BUSINESSES HIRE CITIZENS THEN THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT IN THE COMMUNITY AND THAT ALONE WOULD CREATE MORE JOBS.

[b]Generally speaking, it’s those with insurance that are covering those without insurance in premiums to insurance companies and hospital charges to cover the price of doing business,â€

[quote="ReggieMay"][b]Generally speaking, it’s those with insurance that are covering those without insurance in premiums to insurance companies and hospital charges to cover the price of doing business,â€