I read the story about Manny Evans and his mother Annisha Evans in this morning's Toledo Blade. Naturally The Blade wouldn't publish the article on line, so screw 'em. Here's the article as published in two other news sites: PhillyBurbs and Cincinnati. Manny is seven years old and has neurofibromatosis. Annisha Evans has two other children, is unemployed, and is unable to care for Manny at home. Therefore, Manny lives at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. The cost for Manny's room is about $3000 per day. Medicaid pays $1000 and the hospital writes off the rest as a bad debt. Manny has been living at the hospital for the last four years, which amounts to $365,000 per year plus handling costs from the government workers at medicaid, and this is just the room. If we believe the article, four or five children in the same situation exist at this hospital.
Granted that this is one case, making it anecdotal evidence of the high cost of medical care for the uninsured. However, if Obama's health care plan becomes law, how much longer before this case is no longer anecdotal, and who is going to set the spending cap? Or is the government just going to keep on spending?
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2 comments:
The Gubmint will keep on spending; that's all that they know how to do.
"If we can save help just one child. . ."
But what if we put the shoe on the other foot, the Parent's?
How long would this or any parent keep paying out of their very own pocket and with what expectation (long term)?
As long as somebody else is willing to pay though, money is never the issue and neither is the quality of life.
What the medical professionals need is a set of guidelines, some objective and realistic expectations and a whole lot of uncommon sense in cases like this.
For in reality, what are they really doing here, making the child's life tolerable until he/she outgrows the condition, or are they just reinforcing a false hope in the face of the stark reality of the inevitability of the situation?
Exactly. The parents will very likely continue to spend until they can borrow no more from anyone. They will then have to face the issue squarely, which they've been dodging. Don't get me wrong, because I'd do the same thing, I think. It's when someone else's money is being spent that limits must be set.
Quality of life is something that should be considered more often than not, and it isn't.
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