In the trenches of the US health care system, when an injured person requires immediate medical treatment, they get it˳ It is the American way to help the injured˳ When was the last time we saw a hospital turn away a bleeding patient, or a person sitting in the emergency room with a compound fracture˳ If a hospital did that, we would see outrage on the nightly news˳
As a personal injury lawyer, I know the facts˳ People without health insurance get treated and that treatment gets completely written off by the hospital˳ How does this happen? What happens is a social worker from the hospital will come into the patients room and conduct a financial review˳ They will ask the obvious questions, such as, are you married, are you employed, and do you have health insurance˳
For arguments sake let’s say, patient is single, living alone, and lost their job within the last year˳ Guess what, that patient is one of those uninsured Americans˳ Now, not only are they uninsured, but they are seriously injured˳ So what is the prospect of them paying the bill anytime soon˳ The hospital in some cases, not all cases, will simply write it off as a bad debt˳ Or, they may opt to just put the patient into collections with no real prospect of being paid and ruin their credit˳
So, you are writing off a bad debt˳ The work is already done˳ How does the hospital recoup the money? The answer is you charge the next guy with the insurance more money˳ You have to pass on the fixed cost in some way˳ For instance, you could not own a fruit stand and give some of the fruit away to starving people and not try to raise your prices on the remaining inventory˳ After all, even the fruit stand owner has bills to pay˳
As a personal injury lawyer, I see the lack of affordable health care hurt the economy in additional ways˳ For instance, every now and then I will receive a call from a person claiming to have suffered an injury and wanting to sue˳ So, I listen to what happened and I immediately determine that the injuries suffered do not amount to a viable liability claim˳ When I tell the person I am not interested because I do not see liability, I get the standard come back˳ “All I want are my medical bills paid”˳ In other words, the person was hoping they had a lawsuit because they have no insurance˳ The person knew or should have known they did have a negligence claim, but they are desperate to pay off their debt˳
The problem is confounded by the idea that even though the claim is marginal, a lawyer might try to pursue a settlement because of the injuries˳ Remember the client is desperate to pay medical bills˳ The lawyer is only presenting the client’s argument˳ The risk for the lawyer is that they could lose and get nothing˳ However, the cascading effect occurs because when a lawyer gets involved it costs the insurance company money˳
The reality is that most people would never think of suing or filing a claim if they had insurance˳ The entire motivation behind a lawsuit is not money˳ The entire motivation is payment of medical bills˳ That is why the affordable care act will ultimately save billion’s of dollars and help the citizens of the US get the health care they deserve˳
There are legitimate claims for damages filed every day˳ These claimants need to be compensated for there injuries caused by the wrongful acts of others˳ The uninsured person interfering with legitimate claims puts a significant burden on the economy, the tax payer, and the legal system˳ So, why not provide affordable health care˳
Source by https://ezinearticles˳com/?Experiences-of-a-Lawyer-Shows-Why-ObamaCare-Makes-Good-Economic-Sense&id=8050904
