Romney Proposes Emergency Room as Alternative to ObamaCare (VIDEO)

[teko]

On Sunday, Mitt Romney made an appearance on CBS’s 60 Minutes. Host Scott Pelley asked this of the presidential hopeful:
Pelley: Does the government have a responsibility to provide health care to the 50 million Americans who don’t have it today?
Romney: Well, we do provide care for people who don’t have insurance, people– we– 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.
Pelley: That’s the most expensive way to do it.
Romney: Well the–
Pelley: In an emergency room.
Romney: Different, again, different states have different ways of doing that. Some provide that care through clinics. Some provide the care through emergency rooms. In my state, we found a solution that worked for my state. But I wouldn’t take what we did in Massachusetts and say to Texas, “You’ve got to take the Massachusetts model.”
Apparently, Mitt Romney is not keeping tabs on the situation that changed in Massachusetts due to Romney Care. According to Dr. Somava Stout:
“We’ve seen patients come in and get screened for colorectal cancer, gets lots of people diagnosed with polyps before they became cancer,” Stout said.
“You have people who before would get their diabetic care in the emergency room who instead are coming into primary care, taking care of their diabetes, not ending up hospitalized every three or every four months. I mean it’s a huge difference.”
So, according to Mitt, poor people should let their polyps turn into cancer and then go to the emergency room only to find that nothing can be done for them. That’s what emergency room care as a health care option means! Mitt Romney’s response is priceless! If I do another face-palm over something this man says, I’m going to end up with a concussion. In comparison to Mitt Romney, George W. Bush is looking like a very brilliant man indeed, and infinitely more caring. That’s right! Mitt Romney makes the man who tanked the US economy look smart, competent and benevolent. Here comes that concussion.

http://veracitystew.com/2012/09/24/romney-proposes-emergency-room-as-alternative-to-obamacare-video/

[brice1967]

Who pays for that?  You and I do when we go to the hospital.  I hate the emergency room and try to avoid it at all costs.  (Not a big fan of hospitals in general.)  This is a big problem here locally.  It was estimated recently that 43% of emergency room visits do NOT get paid for, at our little hospital.  That is a travesty and those costs have to be passed on to someone, somewhere.

I don't know how to get around that problem.  I mean, it is an accepted practice here.  Our emergency room is often full of people with ear infections, strep infections and the common cold.  

[teko]

Back in 2010 Romney was all about universal health care and this is just another example of how far he will swing to pander to the party of the far right. I honestly dont know where this guy stands on anything from one day to the next.

[adgal]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record...I'd bet on the fact that the cost of reactive care when things are at this point is significantly higher then preventative treatment for everyone.  I can't figure out why everyone focus' on the cost of Universal care when clearly the money being spent on this way of doing things has got to be super high.  So who pays for that?  

[brice1967]

I didn't read the article but know full well that this policy is in play here locally.