[AFP/Mandel Ngan]

Song in my head:
Bush never said “stay the course,” of course.
And no one can challenge this ass of horse.
He lies, perforce, to change the course of election day ahead.

Mad Kane



Chronic Health Problems = Chronic Doctor Bills

If you're one of the 47 million uninsured Americans that do not have health care coverage chances are you will end up in a emergency room with some neglected or ignored ailment that needs immediate attention. This lack of preventative care drives up the cost for medical services for everyone involved and which are already out of reach. A few progressive hospitals are offering free preventative care to prevent the chronically ill patient from making emergency room visits. This saves money for the patient and the hospital and is a wonderful idea.

Reaching out to uninsured patients, especially those with chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure or asthma, is a recent tactic of “a handful of visionary hospital systems around the country,” said Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation in New York that concentrates on health care. These institutions are searching for ways to fend off disease and large debts by bringing uninsured visitors into continuing basic care.

NYT Link

The article has an interesting aside. Apparently, Texas has the highest rate of the medically uninsured and has strict income requirements for patients on state run Medicaid programs.

Nowhere is the problem more acute than in Texas, where nearly a quarter of the population is uninsured, the nation’s highest rate. Small businesses here are unlikely to offer benefits, and the state government’s unusually stringent restrictions on Medicaid for adults leave many of the working poor at risk Even without counting the large immigrant population, Texas has the country’s highest share of uninsured, at 21 percent, according to the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. NYT Link