In this area, if you call 911 and are taken to an ER by the life saving crew, you get seen before the people who may have been waiting for hours and hours to be seen. I watched my friend\’s hand show signs of escalating blood poisoning as we waited four hours to be seen by a doc. She had been bitten by a familiar dog, but the people brought in by an ambulance, no matter what their ailment, got attention prior to her. She ended up almost losing her hand, with a five day stay in the hospital.
My neighbor used to use the ER as a doc\’s office. Took her kids there for runny noses, etc etc.
What do you think is the point of this article? It mentioned nothing about claims. The article gets across the point that higher deductibles are keeping patients away from the ER. Apparently, they are now going to the doctor for NON-EMERGENCIES- what a novel idea! (also, we hope they are non-emergencies) instead of the EMERGENCY room. So, again, not sure you had a point about THIS particular story.
Patient-
Nice neighbor huh? And, I am sorry for your friend. It is sad how disorganized some ER\’s are, isn\’t it? I was with my mom in Vegas and she was having heart trouble so I took her to the ER. We ended up having to leave a few minutes after she was admitted because NO ONE would help her for HEART trouble. Uhm, at like 3 AM? There were like 2 other people there. I guess someone\’s nap was more important. I read a complaint about another IJ article about a Las Vegas hospital. I wonder if it was the same one. Luckily, she wasn\’t having a heart attack. If something HAD happened to her, you\’d all be commenting on an article written about me suing the hospital for all their assets. :) (Oh and the best part is they have the nerve to send her a bill for services rendered- HA HA HA HA!)
Here\’s another ER horror story (although I know some ER\’s are excellent, this one was not). My mom woke me up out of a deep sleep at 4 AM and needed me to take her to the emergency room. I drove to the one closest to my house. There were no nurses/employees in the lobby. You had to ring a bell, so I did and said \”My mom is having heart trouble; please help us.\” They said someone would be right out. So, we waited… 5 minutes… ok, if I had shot her in the foot could we have gotten some help? Probably not. There was NO ONE else waiting (I realize maybe there were patients behind the scenes) but I wasn\’t waiting for a table at a restaurant. I\’m not knocking all ER\’s because I know this is not indicative of all hospitals, but that\’s sad, very sad.
Regardless of what your health insurance is like, or if you have insurance at all, makes no difference on NEEDED EMERGENCY CARE. Just because you choose a higher deductible on your auto insurance doesn\’t mean you are less likely to completely wreak your vehicle. The same goes for your health. If you have a real medical emergency, you will go to the emergency room, period.
The only thing this article shows is that these backwards insipid health care plans (non cost sharing) actually ENCOURAGE people to go to the emergency room whenever they feel like it. All this extra utilization not only costs EVERY SINGLE insured more money through higher premiums, but creates a problem with our economy (Supply and demand? More people going for treatment THEY DON\’T NEED from EMERGENCY care providers creates a need for more emergency personnel, now the emergency room has more employees working there all the time, so they have greater overhead and need to raise prices and accept less insurance companies policies, and, in turn, destroys the same \”managed care\” solution that started the problem.)
In short….
Deductibles, whether auto home or health do not decrease claims, they have people self insure the little things in life (a nick in your paint, a stolen shovel, a stuffy nose.) I think we have all forgotten the purpose of insurance (once called indemnity plans) is to indemnify you for an unexpected monetary loss that would otherwise place a financial burden on you. DON\’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF.
I have a condition that is known as SVT
(Supraventricular Tachycardia). This is where an electrical short in my heart goes haywire and causes a heart rate of 150-200 beats per minute. I\’ve had them for a while & I am on medication and know what to expect, but it\’s still scarey.
I went to my hospital\’s ER one morning and was told to wait in the waiting room
(4:00AM) while they were trying to help a patient with a kidney stone. The triage nurse told me that she knows how painful the stone can be and that she thought I should wait. WAIT FOR WHAT?
A HEART ATTACK? Give me a kidney stone any day over the SVT\’s……….luckily,
my husband was with me and demanded that I be seen by a doctor right away. Needless to say, I was seen and given an IV to counteract my SVT\’s.
Although the stone is an emergency, I don\’t know why that nurse just didn\’t go in the back to get someone else out there to help. Sounds like this hospital is aching for a lawsuit. (It\’s a very well known private hospital here in the City).
I beleive this was a one-time event as this has never happened to me before in this ER.
Even though my incident in the ER is rare, the ER system in this City is pretty dependable…..if there is the usual \”cold & sniffle\” patient in the waiting room, the more serious patients (heart conditions, etc…) are seen on a priority basis. I have been in the ER many times for more than 5 or 6 hours during the night when my kids we sick with high fevers (103-104 degrees or so).
I have a high deductible for the ER but that would NEVER make me think twice about using the ER for extreme emergencies. It will, however, make me (and the average Joe) think twice before using the ER as a doctor\’s office. Why wait in the ER when you can wait in your comfy bed at home until you can see the doctor?
That is definitely a horror story. What would you have done if they had called in the \”runny nose\” patient first? It\’s ridiculous. I think you summed up the point of the article very well.
OverUtilized-
Not sure what comment you are saying NO! to… You have made some good points, but I don\’t think that was the point of this article (as I stated it says nothing about claims). I guess if this is a response to Gill Fin though, I agree with your points with this exception:
\”The only thing this article shows is that these backwards insipid health care plans (non cost sharing) actually ENCOURAGE people to go to the emergency room whenever they feel like it.\” I didn\’t see that anywhere in the article. Instead, it is showing how a health plan (with a higher deductible) ENCOURAGES people to go to the doctor when it\’s a NON-EMERGENCY instead of their more costly ER visit.
This article is about high deductible plans vs. TRADITIONAL plans, not no cost sharing plans. So, again, this article has nothing to do with no cost sharing. I get your point, it just wasn\’t addressed in this article.
We have updated our privacy policy to be more clear and meet the new requirements of the GDPR. By continuing to use our site, you accept our revised Privacy Policy.
What brilliant analysis! Higher deductibles lead to fewer claims. What\’s next? Hurricanes result in wind damage?
How newsy can you get?
In this area, if you call 911 and are taken to an ER by the life saving crew, you get seen before the people who may have been waiting for hours and hours to be seen. I watched my friend\’s hand show signs of escalating blood poisoning as we waited four hours to be seen by a doc. She had been bitten by a familiar dog, but the people brought in by an ambulance, no matter what their ailment, got attention prior to her. She ended up almost losing her hand, with a five day stay in the hospital.
My neighbor used to use the ER as a doc\’s office. Took her kids there for runny noses, etc etc.
if you are white and a resident of the US, don\’t bother going to the ER.
Gill Fin-
What do you think is the point of this article? It mentioned nothing about claims. The article gets across the point that higher deductibles are keeping patients away from the ER. Apparently, they are now going to the doctor for NON-EMERGENCIES- what a novel idea! (also, we hope they are non-emergencies) instead of the EMERGENCY room. So, again, not sure you had a point about THIS particular story.
Patient-
Nice neighbor huh? And, I am sorry for your friend. It is sad how disorganized some ER\’s are, isn\’t it? I was with my mom in Vegas and she was having heart trouble so I took her to the ER. We ended up having to leave a few minutes after she was admitted because NO ONE would help her for HEART trouble. Uhm, at like 3 AM? There were like 2 other people there. I guess someone\’s nap was more important. I read a complaint about another IJ article about a Las Vegas hospital. I wonder if it was the same one. Luckily, she wasn\’t having a heart attack. If something HAD happened to her, you\’d all be commenting on an article written about me suing the hospital for all their assets. :) (Oh and the best part is they have the nerve to send her a bill for services rendered- HA HA HA HA!)
Here\’s another ER horror story (although I know some ER\’s are excellent, this one was not). My mom woke me up out of a deep sleep at 4 AM and needed me to take her to the emergency room. I drove to the one closest to my house. There were no nurses/employees in the lobby. You had to ring a bell, so I did and said \”My mom is having heart trouble; please help us.\” They said someone would be right out. So, we waited… 5 minutes… ok, if I had shot her in the foot could we have gotten some help? Probably not. There was NO ONE else waiting (I realize maybe there were patients behind the scenes) but I wasn\’t waiting for a table at a restaurant. I\’m not knocking all ER\’s because I know this is not indicative of all hospitals, but that\’s sad, very sad.
My reply to your comment is… NO!
Regardless of what your health insurance is like, or if you have insurance at all, makes no difference on NEEDED EMERGENCY CARE. Just because you choose a higher deductible on your auto insurance doesn\’t mean you are less likely to completely wreak your vehicle. The same goes for your health. If you have a real medical emergency, you will go to the emergency room, period.
The only thing this article shows is that these backwards insipid health care plans (non cost sharing) actually ENCOURAGE people to go to the emergency room whenever they feel like it. All this extra utilization not only costs EVERY SINGLE insured more money through higher premiums, but creates a problem with our economy (Supply and demand? More people going for treatment THEY DON\’T NEED from EMERGENCY care providers creates a need for more emergency personnel, now the emergency room has more employees working there all the time, so they have greater overhead and need to raise prices and accept less insurance companies policies, and, in turn, destroys the same \”managed care\” solution that started the problem.)
In short….
Deductibles, whether auto home or health do not decrease claims, they have people self insure the little things in life (a nick in your paint, a stolen shovel, a stuffy nose.) I think we have all forgotten the purpose of insurance (once called indemnity plans) is to indemnify you for an unexpected monetary loss that would otherwise place a financial burden on you. DON\’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF.
Thank you for your time.
Can you guys stand another ER horror story?
I have a condition that is known as SVT
(Supraventricular Tachycardia). This is where an electrical short in my heart goes haywire and causes a heart rate of 150-200 beats per minute. I\’ve had them for a while & I am on medication and know what to expect, but it\’s still scarey.
I went to my hospital\’s ER one morning and was told to wait in the waiting room
(4:00AM) while they were trying to help a patient with a kidney stone. The triage nurse told me that she knows how painful the stone can be and that she thought I should wait. WAIT FOR WHAT?
A HEART ATTACK? Give me a kidney stone any day over the SVT\’s……….luckily,
my husband was with me and demanded that I be seen by a doctor right away. Needless to say, I was seen and given an IV to counteract my SVT\’s.
Although the stone is an emergency, I don\’t know why that nurse just didn\’t go in the back to get someone else out there to help. Sounds like this hospital is aching for a lawsuit. (It\’s a very well known private hospital here in the City).
I beleive this was a one-time event as this has never happened to me before in this ER.
Even though my incident in the ER is rare, the ER system in this City is pretty dependable…..if there is the usual \”cold & sniffle\” patient in the waiting room, the more serious patients (heart conditions, etc…) are seen on a priority basis. I have been in the ER many times for more than 5 or 6 hours during the night when my kids we sick with high fevers (103-104 degrees or so).
I have a high deductible for the ER but that would NEVER make me think twice about using the ER for extreme emergencies. It will, however, make me (and the average Joe) think twice before using the ER as a doctor\’s office. Why wait in the ER when you can wait in your comfy bed at home until you can see the doctor?
SFOInsuranceLady-
That is definitely a horror story. What would you have done if they had called in the \”runny nose\” patient first? It\’s ridiculous. I think you summed up the point of the article very well.
OverUtilized-
Not sure what comment you are saying NO! to… You have made some good points, but I don\’t think that was the point of this article (as I stated it says nothing about claims). I guess if this is a response to Gill Fin though, I agree with your points with this exception:
\”The only thing this article shows is that these backwards insipid health care plans (non cost sharing) actually ENCOURAGE people to go to the emergency room whenever they feel like it.\” I didn\’t see that anywhere in the article. Instead, it is showing how a health plan (with a higher deductible) ENCOURAGES people to go to the doctor when it\’s a NON-EMERGENCY instead of their more costly ER visit.
Thank you and the end!
That is what I said… non cost sharing plans are ones without deductibles.
This article is about high deductible plans vs. TRADITIONAL plans, not no cost sharing plans. So, again, this article has nothing to do with no cost sharing. I get your point, it just wasn\’t addressed in this article.