Mitt: Uninsured Can Go To Emergency Room If They Need Health Care

[UCmeNdc]

Downplaying the need for the government to ensure that every person has health insurance, Mitt Romney on Sunday suggested that emergency room care suffices as a substitute for the uninsured.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/23/mitt-romney-60-minutes-health-care_n_1908129.html

[elleng]

1. AMAZING!

Isn't he supposed to understand that ER care is among the most expensive? (as well as least efficient???) and hospitals just love to absorb the costs?

[JHB]

78. Oh, he does, but admitting it would tacitly endorse national Romneycare...

...aka Obamacare, and he can't be seen doing that, can he, for Pete's sake?

Instead, he'll just say something that both reminds people of Dubya saying the same thing and that Romney actually does know better.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Does Willard have anything between his ears besides his good hair??

[ProfessionalLeftist]

14. The man is vacuum-packed

There isn't even any AIR in there.

[freshwest]

22. LOL!

[Joe Bacon]

3. BULLSHIT!

Tell that to my neighbor. Family had no insurance, she complained about pains, couldn't afford to go to a doctor, waited till paramedics had to take her to the ER because she was in constant pain. Turned out to be metastasized bone cancer. Now her widower is saddled with bills.

[lunasun]

4. omfg

[brewens]

5. Jeeez! That's exactly the problem numbnuts! It was something like 20 years ago

my buddies wife told him her employer told everyone NOT to use emergency rooms unless it was something really serious. You know, like an EMERGENCY! Her employer? A medical insurance company.

What we need is for them to get to a doctor when they need to, regular checkups and all that. Just like people with insurance and good jobs can. What a freakin' tool!

[davidpdx]

6. In other words Mitt....

they need to die quickly. Heartless bastard!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. That's awfully expensive Mitt, thought you trying to save money?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Oh. My. God.

I realize that's what a lot of ignorant teabaggers think, but if you're running for president you should at least know these things:

1. Emergency room care is not free. They will bill you and they expect you to pay. Eventually, if they don't get paid (after collection agencies have chased you for awhile), they'll have to write the bill off. But ER care is never free. They just can't turn you away if you don't have insurance.

2. If you can't pay at all, the costs for everyone else increase.

3. The emergency room will treat you if you have a medical emergency. They will stabilize you and send you home. If, however, you need follow-up treatment, or treatment for a chronic illness, you can't get it at the emergency room. Instead, you will just stay home and get sicker until you do, in fact, have a genuine (and much more expensive) medical emergency, or you die.

I just can't fucking believe he'd say something like that.

...Oh, wait. I guess I do believe it. He's a moron.

[Generic Brad]

9. And just who does he think is going to pay for that?

Emergency care is more expensive. And if the recipient of health care cannot pay for it, the rest of us will have to foot the bill through increased expense and higher insurance premiums.

What an asshat!

[Ilsa]

10. What an Idiot. No, wait: What an Asshole. nt

[BillyJack]

11. What.an.ignorant.turd.

Is willard *really* that ignorant?

If so, it's just totally mind-boggling! How can he be a serious contender for potus?

[gkhouston]

12. Does he not get that that is more expensive for all of us than providing decent preventive care?

[Marie Marie]

13. He also mentioned going to clinics.

I wonder if he would be willing to have a free clinic manage Ann's MS? These places do the best they can and thank God we have them but with limited funds, they are ill equipped to handle complex and costly conditions. So tell me Mitt, are you willing to fore go the uber care that your money can buy for Ann's medical treatment and depend on free clinics and emergency rooms for her chronic condition? I thought not. But then hey, it's good enough for those freeloading 47%-ers.

Heartless Bastard. Even having someone in his own family in need of constant medical supervison and treatment doesn't make this evil prick have any more compassion for those in the same situtation - without a mountain of money to pay for it. Karma - where are you??

[AnneD]

15. How totally clueless ....

If you are conscious - they ask you how you will pay for it. You sign papers stating you will be responsible. If you don't have fund, insurance, or a gold card, you will be dunned til you pay.

[central scrutinizer]

51. dunned until you are bankrupt

this is the real "death tax". If you don't have insurance, you can kiss your assets goodbye.

[ThoughtCriminal]

16. Just a few years ago, he was saying this was bad

When he advocated "Romneycare", he said this is why mandatory coverage was essential. Otherwise everybody ends up paying the bill.

And come on, who doesn't understand that being forced by lack of insurance to delay treatment until the pain gets so bad that you go to an emergency room, is both ineffective medicine and hundreds, even thousands of time more expensive? Oh yeah - FOX viewers.

[KT2000]

17. Tea Party position

I am sure he is clueless but this is a favorite comment by the Tea party as their position on getting rid of Affordable Care Act.

[freshwest]

24. Yep. playing to his base. Their way of saying, FOAD. But don't tax me, bro!

[KT2000]

33. FOAD ?

Have not heard that one before.
Have a guess for the "F" and O is likely Obama?

[nc4bo]

37. Fuck Off And Die? nm

[KT2000]

40. Oooooh - K!

I know that one after all! Thanks!

[nc4bo]

43. LOL - sometimes that stuff catches me too. You're welcome heehee. nm

[freshwest]

58. Sorry! There's a few being used here lately that IDK, either.

And yes, it was Fuck off and die.

It's Romney/Ryan Care plan. Except they don't.

And 'don't tax me bro' was from the tazing story.

The fact that anyone in this country is buying what R & R are selling... is appalling.

[appleannie1]

18. And who does he think ends up paying for that? He is just plain stupid.

[silvershadow]

19. Not only is this exactly what is WRONG with the system, but

I also had an exchange with a tea bagger a few weeks ago about this. This is an aside, I think, from the OP, but what slays me about that mentality is what they really mean by this is "Let the Catholics, the Baptists, the Lutherans, etc pay for it". I realize not all of them think this way, but the ones who do are really just libertarians in a sense and they don't care who is paying as long as it's not them. How many Mormon hospitals are there nationwide? My home church, the Catholic church, for all it's painful faults and lessons learned and not learned, still provides a HUGE amount of charity healthcare...it's just a shame so much of the care is occurring in emergency rooms. I'm not saying Mormons don't contribute to the healthcare of Americans, that I actually do not know. I'm just saying Mitt is full of crap, as usual.

[grantcart]

20. Well I think we should cut Mitt some slack here folks

I mean it was kind of a trick question. How in the world could the campaign have ever anticipated that a question from such a far out field like health care, and uninsured.

He was ready to talk about appropriate pet care during long trips, appropriate tree heights of different states, and the need to be careful not to apply too much make up and they snuck this by. Damn tricky media.

[SheilaT]

21. I just want to repeat what has already been posted.

All the ER will for an uninsured patient is to stabilize them and send them home. They will probably send them home with prescriptions, if that is appropriate, and usually a specific referral where they should get follow-up care. But an uninsured person will only maybe get the prescription filled, and almost certainly will not get the follow up care.

Someone like Mitt has no clue what the reality is for those who actually use the ER for their first line of medical care. It's also part of the reason our medical costs in this country are so high.

[WI_DEM]

26. No, actually I work in an ER and we admit quite a few uninsured people and offer them uncompensated

care applications to help with their bills.

[BillyJack]

29. well that's great, under the circumstances.....

but it's not really a great solution to the VERY BIG PROBLEM....as surely you know/realize.

[SheilaT]

31. What exactly do you mean?

Are you simply talking about covering their ER bill? What's not paid, the hospital simply eats.

Or are you saying your hospital will pay for follow-up care?

I also work at a hospital, although not in the ER.

[Princess Turandot]

42. I think WI_Dem may mean that if the uninsured person needs to be admitted as an inpatient..

the hospital will determine whether the person's care can be 'paid' via one of the hospital's charity care funds. They may well also check if the person qualifies for Medicaid, if only for that stay. The voluntary hospitals in NYC for example usually have people on staff who are very adept at the Medicaid approval process. (Hospital fiscal person here.)

Edited to add: this, of course, helps only a limited amount of uninsured patients.

[aletier_v]

23. OK. now i buy the theory that he's deliberately throwing the election

to keep the PAC money.

[WI_DEM]

25. Doesn't he understand that is why costs are rising? too many uninsured people letting things go

until they have to go to the ER.

[subterranean]

50. Of course he understands. But he's convinced he has to pretend not to.

There's no way that the man who signed the nation's first state-based universal health care law (well, nearly universal) -- who worked hard to push it through because he thought it was "the right thing to do" -- can possibly believe what he's saying now. It's just another example of what we already know -- that this man will say whatever he thinks it takes to win the election. It's kind of a shame, really. The Massachusetts health care law is probably the best thing Mitt Romney has done in his life, and now he can't even talk about it.

[LiveNudePolitics]

80. This is why

I call him Whipsaw Willard, for his willingness to go in any direction to satisfy the idiotic base.;

[nc4bo]

27. Amazing, Bullshit, omfg, Jeez, Oh My God - I have absolutely nothing else to add here.

It's all been said so well for me already.

Is he clearly nuts? THAT'S part of the problem already!

What an ass ignorant statement to make.....

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. Yes, the magic ER where nothing costs anyone any money.

[eridani]

30. Yes you stupid useless parasitic shitstain! You can go there to find out that--

--it's too late to treat what is killing you.

[Amonester]

32. Flip, flop. In 2007, Romney said that when the uninsured show up in emergency rooms...

In 2007, Romney said that when the uninsured show up in emergency rooms and get free health care, that's a "form of socialism."

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/06/four-things-romney-wishes-he-hadnt-said-about-romneycare/54058/

Etch-A-Sketch

Flip

Flop

Etch-A-Sketch

Flip

Flop

Repeat, Rince, Repeat

[Warpy]

34. Well, it's official, he's ignorant of everything

Mittens, honey, ERs don't do surgery, chemo or anything else that requires hospital care. For that, a person has to weigh living and being in debt for the rest of his life or dying and maybe leaving his kids something.

Yes, for those of us without insurance, it is just that stark a choice.

Shame on you. Shame on your class. Shame on your party.

[beac]

35. When they lose this election, Mitt and Ann should be stripped of their health care, kicked out of

their homes and forced to live on $15K per year. Maybe THEN those spoiled, entitled assholes will get it!

[Plaid Adder]

36. AUGH! What the fuck is FREE about emergency room care?

WHERE are these 'free' emergency rooms? I have been on a couple of emergency room visits, and all the ones I'VE ever been to bill the fuck out of you after you leave.

Perhaps Romney doesn't pay his own bills.

the wack, it burns,

The Plaid Adder

[kestrel91316]

59. Hell, they manage to bill the fuck out of you even if you have insurance.

[Major Nikon]

39. So what the fuck is his solution if you have diabetes, heart disease, ...

or some other chronic condition?

People die in this country every day because they lack access to even the most basic comprehensive health care. I guess his "solution" to that is they could have been born into privilege and wealth and they wouldn't have had to worry about it.

Willard is quickly turning into a bigger putz than Palin.

[haydukelives]

41. doesn't his wife have MS

He thinks she can be treated in the emergency room. WOW, it just never ends.

[tavalon]

82. Silly, he isn't talking about his wife's care, he's talking about the help.

He can buy the damn hospital for his wife, 100 times over. But, you, the moocher, can fuck off and die.

[Smickey]

44. Un-fucking-believable

The horror, the horror.

All of us atheists out there should start praying now(on the outside chance we are wrong). Christians you too. Jews you as well. Muslims join in. Everyone rather you believe in a god or not start praying that this heartless fuck never has power over another living human being, wait make that living entity,,, ever. Never. He does not possess compassion, period. Then make damn sure you and one other person get out and VOTE.

[OverBurn]

45. What A Fucking Dick

[desertduck]

46. B/c that has been working so well for us....

Unbelievable.

[rks306]

47. Damn

Most efficent way to get health care. Hell, I thank we owe Ronald Reagan for that. Look people, it is their time to serve, according to Ann. We should feel honored to have Draft dodger to run our Country. IN MY VIEW OFF THE DEEP END.

[xfundy]

48. I had to go to the emergency room

a couple of years ago. Broken arm. Can't pay for it, cuz I'm caring for my elderly parents and unable to work because of it. Would love to have a job so I could afford someone to be with them all day and night, but the only jobs available in my formerly highly-competitive field pay about $10/hr, which is what I'd pay a sitter/CNA, if not more.

The emergency room set the arm, then trapped me in the exit room until I signed a statement saying I was responsible for over $1,000 for the ten minutes they spent on my arm.

Of course I couldn't pay, so now there are constant phone calls demanding that payment.

So, that fucks my credit up even further.

So, Mittens, how is the emergency room "free," you lying bastard? My credit is fucked for the short term and possibly even long-term. And prior to this, my credit was gold, got AmEx offers daily.

The world is completely upside down, now, and while I may want off once in awhile, I've become determined to fight the assholes rather than succumb to them.

[Third Doctor]

49. This is coming from someone that can pay for his medical bills out of pocket.

The selfish, elitist bastard.

[lexw]

52. Yep...

this is what the republicans have in mind for the U.S.:
back to feudalism.

[SunSeeker]

53. You can't get cancer treatment in an emergency room, Mitt, you heartless douchebag.

Nor will they treat chronic conditions, like hypertension, diabetes or things that slowly kill you over time. That is why 45,000 Americans die each year for lack of health insurance. My brother could very easily be one of them. Hope he can hold out until 2014 when the full ACA kicks in.

[Beartracks]

69. I swear, it's like Palin is giving him talking points. n/t

[anneboleyn]

83. Exactly. Any chronic illness can't be treated this way effectively. Arrogant and clueless comment.

Yeah, we all know that Ann Romney would have to go, over and over again, to the ER for her MS treatment. Right. He is such a totally heartless, clueless jerk.

[SunSeeker]

84. ERs don't treat MS. But Mitt and Ann would never know that since they've never been uninsured.

If they'd ever gone to an ER for "treatment" of a chronic condition like many uninsured try to, they'd realize ERs don't really "treat" anything. They're there just to stabilize the patient. You can show up with a basketball-sized tumor in your gut, and so long as you are breathing and not bleeding to death, they will not remove it, much less give you chemo or radiation for it. ERs don't even have chemo or radiation equipment. You have to go to an oncologist for that, and oncologists won't give you an appointment without insurance. In America, uninsured cancer patients face slow, painful, untreated deaths. And considering that half of all people get some type of cancer at some point in their lives, that's a lot of people.

[CoffeeCat]

54. I just spoke with a physician friend of mine about this...

I have a friend who is an Ob/Gyn and she said that in exchange for using the hospital facilities to deliver her patient's babies--she is required to put in many hours a week taking care of uninsured patients who need her specific skill set.

My friend said that her salary comes from her practice. She does not work for the hospital and is not on their payroll. However, she is required to treat these uninsured patients without getting paid. My friend was quick to say that she knows she is paid well and that is not the problem. It's not that she's working for free. It's the extra hours. In addition to running her practice, seeing patients and delivering babies--she has to put in these extra hours and she said that it is very draining and taxing on doctors.

She mentioned that any doctor--whether they are a surgeon, or an OB/GYN like herself--if they use the hospital, they are required to do this without getting paid for it.

The hospitals get reimbursed by the government for treating the uninsured, but the doctors don't.

So, the system is stressed and discombobulated--and it isn't as effortless and smooth as Mitt Romney suggests.

[kestrel91316]

55. Yes, emergency rooms are fantastic places for managing diabetes,

cancer, chronic hypertension, female problems, psychiatric problems, etc.



This man is DANGEROUSLY stupid. Either that, or he's pure evil Either way, he does NOT belong in the White House!!!!

[Enrique]

56. seems like a dumb question

Mitt knows the issues, he knows that is not a good way to do health care, that is why he did Romneycare. And dont bother debunking his Mass. vs. Texas distinction, he knows that is bogus, which is why he said Romneycare should be a model for the whole country. I didnt see the whole show but if it is as credulous as that clip looks then they suck.

[StevePaulson]

57. They Go, Then They Get Sued And Garnished

They may be uninsured. But if they work they will be sent to collections, and have their paychecks garnished. I think healthcare fees should be paid by all, with incentives to live healthy, on a sliding scale.

My friend got sick, and went to an emergency room. We think he got bit by a spider but we don't know what made him sick.

His bill was $10,000 for one day in the hospital.

His wages were garnished.

Howz them apples Mitt?

http://www.RepublicansAreADisease.com

Mitt, you and your Republican Friends are a disease.

[pinto]

60. Effin' clueless to the big picture of health care. Just effin' clueless.

"Well, we do provide care for people who don't have insurance," he said in an interview with Scott Pelley of CBS's "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday night. "If someone has a heart attack, they don't sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care."

[jmowreader]

61. Not only is Mitt pure evil, he's a shitty businessman

Good businessmen work to reduce costs. Sending routine care to the most expensive place in the whole healthcare system, like Mitt seems to think appropriate, is NOT reduction of costs but rather a multiplication of them.

[pinto]

62. The implied arrogance is amazing. "We pick them up..."

Sorry to run on, but I find this really cheesy. Oh, and folks with heart disease are sitting in their apartments. "We pick them up..."

Peasants for Romney! Yo!

[Beartracks]

63. Mitt, you DO realize using the ER like that is part of the problem... right?

You are showing the electorate that you really don't "get it" when it comes to why the healthcare crisis in this country is in fact called that.

===================

[pinto]

67. Yep.

[gopiscrap]

64. What a fucking clueless asshole

every other nation in the civilized world has a form of universal health care....as much as I blame Willard for the statement..it was fucking Ronald Reagan after WWII that did a freak out about having a European system of socilized health care and pretty much did us in. Fuck all these asswhipe republicans and their small minds and empy hearts!!!

[fun n serious]

65. Look at his face while he says it!

He really does not Give a rats azz about people. OH!!! I feel like rounding up a bunch of people and head to the ER!

[identify]

66. Ok, That Does It!

Clearly, this man is trying (greatly and valiantly) to throw this election. Who the hell is this thick? WTF?

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

68. The political talk shows tomorrow should be fun, discussing another major Mitt storm

[DJ13]

70. And after he repealed the ACA and poor people went back to using ER's

He would slash Medicaid to the bone.

[Beartracks]

71. So when do we see Obama campaign ads comparing old Mitt to new Mitt?

Or are there already ads that juxtapose audio and video from his Romeycare days to his current campaign?

======================

[cherish44]

72. I got into a discussion with a friend of mine who sells insurance

She said that people who have pre-exisiting conditions only have themselves to blame for not getting insurance earlier. I told her 1) people lose their insurance all the time through divorce or getting laid off from their jobs (her answer: Get COBRA...you'd think someone in the insurance industry would know COBRA is only good for 18 months) 2) Some people are BORN with these health conditions that insurance tries to get out of paying for. Her answer: get help from a charity or through fundraisers....: : Bottom line...health care, insurance and the pharmaceutical industry should NOT be a for-profit businesses, peoples' health is more important than someone making lots of money.

[Freddie]

74. ++++

F*cking unreal.
He *started* Romneycare due to the wasted $$ of ER visits when insured people can go to the family doctor.
And try going to the ER with, say, a lump in your breast. The doctor will say, "yes, you have a lump in your breast, go to your family doctor for further tests." in other words, go home and die if you have no $$ or insurance.
Mr. Romney, eat shit and die.

[Native]

81. Not to mention that COBRA is much more expensive - most of the time it's cost prohibitive. nt

[MADem]

73. What a stupid, stupid man. nt

[spiderpig]

75. We just got our October health benefits enrollment options from Mr pig's employer

The plan we've had for years is no longer offered. We can now pay more for less coverage, and the doctor who has taken care of my declining vision for years is out of the program.

I just want to scream.

Mittens, you can FOAD.

[TroyD]

76. Direct link:

[OSPREYXIV]

77. Save on Energy

And it'll probably be preferred that you walk in there because when this corporate wizard has his way, all ambulance services will be privatized and gas will cost too much to squander it on proles.

[2on2u]

79. What an amazing depth of understanding Mitt Romney

doesn't have. His glass is half broken. His car elevator doesn't go all they way to the top...... and he must own stock in ER supply companies.

[Monk06]

85. Romney is not clueless or stupid. He's a cold blooded cynic. Says whatever he thinks he needs to

say to placate his Bagger Base. He's doesn't give a shit that he lies and contradicts himself every time he opens his mouth.