Ah, So This is What Universal Coverage Looks Like
Theresa Day, 50, had been waiting two hours for her appointment at the To Help Everyone Clinic, a community fixture at 38th Street and Western Avenue for more than 30 years. A bus driver who lost her job and insurance, she tapped her finger on the chair and flipped through a novel. More than once, she walked down the hall to ask how much longer she would have to wait.
“This is awful,” said Day, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and used to go to Kaiser. She says she never thought “in a million years” that she would need to come to a clinic for medical care.
As it struggles to care for existing patients, nearly 55% of whom are uninsured and 30% covered by Medi-Cal, the clinic is trying to prepare for more.
“But the challenges are daunting. T.H.E. Clinic, like others across the nation, struggles to recruit and retain doctors because the pay is comparatively low, the pressure is high and the cases are difficult.”
Sad. It’s too bad that, for some, universal care isn’t much better than a trip to the E.R.
Price controls result in waiting lines like this. Medicaid pays low fees, which is why most doctors don’t want to treat Medicaid patients. The only way a clinic can make money on Medicaid is to become a Medicaid Mill and run them through as quickly as possible.
This is sad to see — those who argue that the uninsured are getting substandard care should have to justify why this is so much better.
They need to have an express pass like theme parks do.
Estimating a 50% increase in number of people using these clinics as the new health reforms roll out.
Wonderful.
Universal coverage is a myth.
“Motivating patients to change unhealthy behaviors, show up for appointments and take medications is difficult.” It shouldn’t be the physicians’ job to motivate patients to do “the right thing” for themselves. It is their health, it is their lives, thus they should have the responsibility to follow physicians’ instructions if they want to stay healthy and live longer. Physicians have enough on their plate dealing with so many unlawful regulations for them to be able to practice and see patients and at the same time pay their bills, for now on top of that make them responsible for what patients decide to do once they turn around and leave the doctor’s office. It is their choice, doctors should not be the ones carrying this burden on their shoulders.
As Dan Hawkins said… they are going to have a lot more paying customers, and whether they come back or not is going to depend on how they treat them. Amen to that!
Joselyn — Agree with that! That said, how is this unique to patients at these clinics? Lots of people with traditionally funded insurance could be bad patients, I’d imagine.
That said, I think there’s definitely room to argue that people paying for their own health care are maybe more entitled to the choice to “be a bad patient” because they’re taking responsibility for their costs. I can see both sides.
Well then it seems we will have different tiers of care, then. You can always skip the line with Speedpass or a VIP option!
Yes! Isn’t it glorious Comrade?
hopefully other mechanisms come into play to alleviate some of the pressure of adding so many newly insured patients
“The clinics are already feeling the pressure of competition, aware they won’t be able to survive solely as providers of last resort for those who remain uninsured after healthcare reform is implemented.”
Makes sense.