Maybe Sicko’s really having an impact because the LA Times is suddenly writing about the state of health care in California. A lot.
First, the number of people with NO job-based health insurance in California’s going up: 6.5 million people were uninsured for all or part of 2005, according to a study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Employers seem increasing unwilling or unable to shoulder the financial burden of job-based health insurance. The costs really are prohibitive, as Timothy Noah pointed out in Slate. Healthcare’s expected to be the centerpoint of the talks between GM, Ford and Chrystler and the United Auto Workers. According to the LA Times, “GM alone spent $4.8 billion on healthcare last year — second, it says, only to AT&T Corp. among U.S. corporations.”
And extending health care coverage’s tough to do — LAUSD’s considering health coverage for all of its cafeteria workers, but some say “The cafeteria fund cannot absorb a $40-million increase in costs, even with greater participation and more efficiencies.”
Meanwhile, those who do have health insurance keep getting screwed over by the insurance companies. With Blue Cross, my own insurance company, it’s gotten so bad that the state of California’s holding a public hearing on July 19 about the company. Apparently, “California has received more than 1,600 complaints from consumers, physicians and hospitals about Blue Cross of California” since 2004.
The California Department of Insurance found BC Life & Health “had revoked 1,880 individual health insurance policies in California in 2004 and 2005, and a review of 83 sample cases cited more than half for alleged violations of fair claims handling laws…. Other issues on the regulator’s radar include Blue Cross’ retroactive cancellation of sick patients.”
To top it all off, “this summer Blue Cross is imposing fee reductions on physicians at the same time it is sending letters to policyholders notifying them that their premiums are going up because of increasing medical expenses.”
This type of disgusting behavior on the part of insurance companies lends fuel for profit-driven hospital owners like Prem Reddy, who can cut services, turn away the uninsured, then argue they’re at least keeping hospitals open that would’ve gone bankrupt due to insurance companies.
Again, let me point you to Senate Bill 840, Senator Kuehl’s California Universal Health Care Act. Go to the Sicko post to get a short primer on it and find out how to get involved.
Prem Reddy got rejected by the Attorney General, thats the word on the street that i just got messaged to me :) You can read about it on the my blog.
Comment by affad — July 11, 2007 @ 6:47 pm
Doctors follow the Hippocratic Oath. To suggest otherwise is ignorance. A typical surgeon graduates from medical school with staggering debt well into their 30’s. To suggest that they are in the field for the money is crazy – Bill Gates is making money and doesn’t have to worry about someone dying every day of his life. Hospitals must balance the books to keep the emergency rooms open, the insurance paid, and continue to provide care for patients. Please go after Exxon with 10 billion dollars in quarterly profits if you are looking for excess. As an educated individual, I’m so tired of ignorance and sensationalism in the press for the purpose of selling advertising. Scientist and doctors are actually doing it. Your paper should examine their priorities and ethics.
Comment by Lisa — July 12, 2007 @ 3:14 pm
Lisa — This is not a paper. It’s a blog. My sis is a doc, and does have lotsa debt, so I certainly agree that there are other avenues of getting rich quick that may be easier. That said, many doctors get out of debt and generally are part of the upper-middle class; money and status does play a role in the choice to become a doctor, more for some than others. Prem Reddy seems to care a great deal about money, for ex.
Do you really believe that all doctors are always driven only by altruistic motivations? Doctors are not gods or angels, even if you believe in such; they are human beings, and a few are human beings that seem to care very little about other human beings. If no doctors cared about money, we wouldn’t have so many breast augmentation ads in the LA Weekly every week.
Comment by Siel — July 13, 2007 @ 1:58 pm
The truth is that Prem Reddy and his hospitals’ emergency departments see more uninsured and indigent patients than other hospitals because their emergency departments are open longer, are more accessible and have decreased waiting times and length of stays. His hospitals see more patients in their emergency departments, especially uninsured and indigent patients. Therefore, the charity emergency care provided at PHS’s hospitals is substantially higher than the area hospitals, both for-profit and not-for-profit. For example, publically available data with California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (www.oshpd.ca.gov)shows Reddy’s hospitals provide over 3 times the charity care per bed compared to its competitors in San Bernardino County, 6 times compared to its competitors in Orange County and 8 times compared to its competitors in San Fernando Valley. While the amount of charity care is decreasing in the other area for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals, his hospitals continues to provide substantially more charity care, underscoring the dedication to the underprivileged population. Unfortunately, the factual data and Reddy and his hospitals commitment to charity care was not represented in the LA Times article.
Comment by Prime — August 15, 2007 @ 6:54 pm