An article in today's Wall Street Journal, As Medical Costs Soar, The Insured Pay Huge Tab made my blood boil. Horrifying.
Basically, it's the story of a 61 year old man, Jim Dawson, who became seriously ill after a minor ailment wasn't diagnosed by any doctors over a two-year period and had a five-month hospital stay to recover from a nearly fatal situation. Shortly after he returned home, the hospital, California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) called him and his wife to tell them they owed $1.2 million for his stay, even though he was fully insured.
The medical system worked to strip this man and his wife of all their income while he was still undergoing serious medical treatment including heart surgery. When questioned by WSJ reporters, spokesmen for the hospital blithely denied doing anything of the kind. According to them, the hospital was merely trying to help the couple.
It could be a tale out of Dickens only it's true:
Mr. Dawson's health calamity, and the resulting $3 million in health-care bills it generated, was due to a staph infection, a bacterial skin infection that is usually easily cured if caught early. But Mr. Dawson's condition was missed by various doctors and spread throughout his body.
At one point Mr. Dawson went into cardiac arrest, was rushed into intensive care and revived. The doctors determined he would need another heart surgery to implant a defibrillator. During the week before the risky operation, his wife was approached and threatened several times regarding the costs her husband was incurring:
One June 29, Mrs. Dawson says she was leaving the hospital when she was ushered into a small conference room by Ema Beronilla, an employee from CPMC's financial office. She says Ms. Beronilla told her that her husband's insurance had run out and showed her a sheet of paper indicating that they owed the hospital more than $1 million.
A spokesman for CPMC, Kevin McCormack, confirms the meeting but says Ms. Beronilla was merely trying to help Mrs. Dawson understand her financial options, not pressuring her to pay the bill.
Mrs. Dawson implored Ms. Beronilla not to tell her husband about the bill because she worried it would affect his still-fragile health.
Three days later, while Mrs. Dawson was away, a man came by Mr. Dawson's room and briefed him on the financial situation. Mr. MCormack, the hospital spokesman, says that Ms. Beronilla relayed Mrs. Dawson's request to her supervisor and that she doesn't know who informed Mr. Dawson. "We regret that this happened," he says.
Later that day, a representative from Health Care Legal Services, an organization employed by CPMC to help uninsured patients with their options called Mr. Dawson's room. Mrs. Dawson answered the phone and declined enrollment into Medi-Cal. She thought the family assets were too high to be eligible and wanted to look over their options with a lawyer:
HCLS sent the Dawsons a letter stating that it was returning their account to CPMC "so that they can initiate their collection efforts." Under intense emotional stress, Mrs. Dawson says she interpreted the letter as a threat. An official for HCLS says it wasn't trying to intimidate the Dawsons but merely to educate them about available assistance programs and to help them apply for them.
CPMC discharged Mr. Dawson on July 26, and Mrs. Dawson drove her husband home. As they entered their house, Mr. Dawson lost his balance and fell. Mrs. Dawson was trying to help him up when the phone rang.
It was Ms. Beronilla, the hospital's financial counselor. Mrs. Dawson says Ms. Beronilla reproached her for declining to meet with HCLS and fill out the Medi-Cal forms, and told her the hospital would start billing immediately. With her husband still splayed out on the floor, Mrs. Dawson remembers replying: "Do what you have to do."
Horrible, horrible. Grotesque. At this point, Mr. Dawson was effectively uninsured but he still had major medical issues to address. Fortunately, he was a Vietnam Veteran [how often are those words written?] which qualified him for care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. But there was still that pesky $1.2 million to contend with.
In her quest to know exactly what she was being billed for, Mrs. Dawson...asked the hospital for copies of all her husband's medical records. A copy service used by the hospital called to say the copies would cost $1,020. Mrs. Dawson was outraged. Further angering her, a letter from CPMC's foundation soliciting a donation came in the mail.
But, be of good cheer. Does the story have a Dickensian ending?
Earlier this week, Mrs. Dawson was contacted by a CPMC official with surprising news. The hospital said Mr. Dawson had qualified for financial assistance under its charity-care policy and wrote off his entire bill. Asked why the Dawsons hadn't been told they could qualify for charity care before a reporter contacted the hospital, CPMC said Mrs. Dawson never gave it the opportunity to explain its policy to her.
MEDICARE FOR ALL! Every presidential candidate worth his or her salt should emphasize that health care is a right, not a privilege.