Romney continues to repeat the GOP policy mantra that people don't die from lack of insurance in this country because, well, they can just go to the ER if they get sick.
“[Y]ou go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it’s paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital,” Romney said. “We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance.”
Never mind that many of his GOP colleagues have called for eliminating the requirement that ERs provide health care regardless of ability to pay (takers!) or to gut the programs whereby the government pays for treatment (takers!).
The fact is that ERs provide limited, point-of-contact acute care, treating an emergency. It's a horrifyingly expensive and inefficient way of dealing with health needs, and completely ignores the plight of people with chronic conditions as well as the financial and health benefits of preventative care.
Indeed, as has been pointed out by one legislative expert in health care:
“There ought to be enough money to help people get insurance because an insured individual has a better chance of having an excellent medical experience than the one who has not. An insured individual is more likely to go to a primary care physician or a clinic to get evaluated for their conditions and to get early treatment, to get pharmaceutical treatment, as opposed to showing up in the emergency room where the treatment is more expensive and less effective than if they got preventive and primary care.”
That was Mitt Romney, all of five years ago.
Reshared post from +Talking Points Memo
Mitt Romney says people don’t die because they lack health insurance. Actually they do. Lots of them.
Embedded Link
Romney Says People Don’t Die Because They Lack Insurance — Here’s Why He’s Wrong
In an interview with the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio, Mitt Romney repeated a claim that already got him in trouble once this cycle and has reflects an enduring belief among Republicans: that people in t…
Google+: View post on Google+
What's wrong with him? Does he think no one knows about cancer, heart disease, diabetes… ?
I don't know if it's that he has to echo the party talking points in their demand that not just Obamacare but every other government-related health care law be dismantled, or that he simply doesn't see and understand what happens to folks outside his socio-economic circle.
Regardless of how the former factors, the latter is a well-documented fact.
I agree with Romney. No one HAS EVER DIED from lack of health care insurance. They MAY, however, have died from lack of action on their own part. If you are ill, cancer, aids, ANYTHING, you can go to the hospital and get treatment. If you choose NOT to go get help because of your own financial inability to pay, then you cannot blame anyone but yourself. I have said this before and I will repeat it as often as necessary…YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO HEALTHCARE INSURANCE. Due to current laws, hospitals are required to treat a person whether or not they have money or insurance, but YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO HEALTHCARE INSURANCE. Stealing from those who work for a living to pay for the health care of those who don’t, is NOT legal. Calling it a tax doesn’t make it any more legal. Just because you were born in the United Staes of America does not entitle you to health care or other peoples money. Just because YOU think that we are all “our brothers keeper” doesn’t give the government a right to steal from some and give to others. This is YOUR religious opinion and not everyone holds that opinion. I do agree our health acre AND our welfare system are broken. Keeping people dependent on government handouts is not the answer. We (the 1/2 of America who are keeping this country afloat) cannot provide for any more moochers. Obama wants to keep people dependent, Romney wants to give people INDEPENDANCE. We can’t just keep giving out food stamps and phones and health care…we need MORE CONTRIBUTORS, MORE JOBS. It’s NOT enough to hand out fish, we have to hand out fishing poles!
@Jennifer – ER treatment doesn’t extend to cancer or AIDS care, let alone preventative treatment. Hospitals are obliged to deal with immediate symptoms and care of immediately presenting illness — whether that’s with aspirin or for broken limbs — and those costs *do* get passed on to every other person who goes to that hospital, covered by insurance or not.
The issue, Jennifer, is that the price to general access to health care *is* insurance. We, as a nation, need to decide whether we are going to have people dying in the streets (or suffering chronic pain and illness, finally presenting as a crisis that may or may not get them admitted to a hospital to die, a hospital visit that we, as a society, will all pay for), or if we are going to watch after one another.
That’s not stealing. That’s the definition of human decency.
(By the way, what’s your definition of “handing out fishing poles” in the context of health care — free band-aids and Tylenol for everyone?)
The emergency room cannot get you a life-saving liver transplant. They are fine for acute injuries and illnesses, but not for any chronic disease. And without a system like the AHCA, the insurance companies can continue to act as the “death panels” the conservatives claim to be opposed to.
Just because YOU think you should be entitled to keep every penny you earn does not mean it is the law. The AHCA was upheld by the Supreme Court. Law-abiding Americans will honor the law. No one HAS EVER DIED (which seems to be your only criterion regarding health care) from paying into a health care system that is legal. You point out current laws but pretend that AHCA does not exist when it clearly states that EVERYBODY IS ENTITLED TO HEALTH INSURANCE. Your claim to the contrary is a lie that you repeat hoping that people will believe it.
Please do not present your opinions as facts, particularly when they are manifestly wrong.
@Avo – “No one HAS EVER DIED (which seems to be your only criterion regarding health care) from paying into a health care system that is legal.” Indeed.
Romney speaks as one who has never had to worry about obtaining medical care. ER treatment is not free, regardless of what certain people say. There’s a bill. They will come after the uninsured or underinsured patient to collect that bill. In my area, most hospitals are willing to work out payment plans. In other areas of the country, that is not an option, and the bill is immediately turned over to a collection agency if not paid in full at time of discharge.
In any hospital, if it is not paid, they will send the bill to collections. The patient, should he live, may have his wages garnisheed. If the patient dies, the hospital/collections will go after his family. Poor people are poor, not stupid. They know all the consequences of seeking or not seeking treatment. Sometimes, they have to make a choice that will have the worst outcome for themselves.
Medicine is not free, so that if one goes to the ER and is diagnosed with a condition that needs medication, one could certainly still die as happened to a young man some months ago. He had infected teeth and could either afford antibiotics or pain medication. He chose the pain medication.
If one is against helping to provide health care coverage to those among us who cannot afford it themselves, that’s one thing. The worshippers of Ayn are entitled to their opinion.
To simply say “Go to the ER,” is ludicrous.
Agreed, Ellie, for all the reasons you graphically suggest.