I was just on another site reading a thread about medical care and the ACA in general and I had a profound thought!!! (ha ha)
Since the ACA eliminates pre-existing conditions as grounds to refuse coverage and policies can be purchased on line with hopefully minimal effort (once the bugs are worked out), what would prevent ER admission desks from immediately enrolling any uninsured patient, that walks or is delivered through their doors, in an insurance plan as part of the admission process.
Any condition a person may suffer is just another pre-existing condition when they cross that threshold into the ER. Heart attack, appendicitis, mangled body from a car accident, all are just pre-existing conditions under the ACA.
As far as an initial deposit, why not use the traditional $1.00 used in so many contracts to establish a de minimus value to substantiate a transaction subject to an actual payment to be established when complete personal financial and other details are available. Maybe the hospital could just front the payment and collect it later.
In addition to coverage for the condition that caused them to go to the ER, the patient would then receive further treatment the aftermath of the ER treatment. If there is some chronic condition, that could be treated too.
Various Insurance spokespeople have already acknowledged that the first enrollees will be those that are the sickest and most in need of care, so why not include ER admittees.
I am not a student of the ACA and there may be some provision that blurs the possibility of this process and if there is, let’s find a solution.
This is a 15 minute diary from my inspiration I noted above so what do you think? Can this work?
Positive comments will be appreciated but if you think this is stupid, let it roll off the edge.
Thanks,
JB