Aslan, Ohio–As jobless numbers reach levels not seen in 25 years, another crisis is unfolding for millions of people who lost their health insurance along with their jobs, joining the ranks of the uninsured.
The crisis is on display here. Starla D. Darling, 27, was pregnant when she learned that her insurance coverage was about to end. She rushed to the hospital, took a medication to induce labor and then had an emergency Caesarean section, in the hope that her Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan would pay for the delivery.
Wendy R. Carter, 41, who recently lost her job and her health benefits, is struggling to pay $12,942 in bills for a partial hysterectomy at a local hospital. Her daughter, Betsy A. Carter, 19, has pain in her lower right jaw, where a wisdom tooth is growing in. But she has not seen a dentist because she has no health insurance.
Ms. Darling and Wendy Carter are among 275 people who worked at an Archway cookie factory here in north central Ohio.
[i] Aslan, Ohio [/i]
That’s a new one to me. Sounds like it could use Lucy’s diamond flask.
Gee, according to the article, about “10.3 million Americans were unemployed in November”. Last I heard, there were about 12 million illegal aliens in the United States. Perhaps we could hire some of those 10.3 million Americans to start deporting some of those 12 million illegal aliens so there would be more jobs for displaced U.S. workers. We could also make a public law that all U.S. citizens are entitled to at least the same health care that illegal aliens recieve for the same amount that the illegal aliens pay.
Time for a Change, President-elect Obama, and this would be a great place to start!
I am probably a lone voice but I doubt that expanding insurance coverage whether through private or public means will rein in health care costs. It will only change the distribution of how those costs are paid and it will also mean more health care dollars going to administration rather than patient care.
Health care costs do not magically change because an insurance company pays instead of a patient. What happens since one group pays an artificially low price the actual remaining cost gets passed on to other consumers who have not made deals with the providers. I wonder sometimes how much medical costs would even out should patients start paying their own doctors for their own care based on fees that the patient and doctor have agreed upon. I am not speaking of hospitilazation but of office visits and treatment.
But I doubt anyone can get a handle on health care costs until we know the actual cost of providing patient care and people have more input in how their money is spent.