Saturday, March 28, 2020

America is failing

A California teenager who died last week, possibly from coronavirus, was turned away from an urgent care because he lacked health insurance.

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said in a video that the 17-year-old had no previous health conditions and was healthy Friday, socializing with friends, before he passed away Wednesday.

"Wednesday, he had gone to an urgent care," he said. "He didn't have insurance, so they did not treat him."

Parris said the teen was sent to the hospital but went into cardiac arrest on the way and died. He was briefly revived, but ultimately passed away.

[...]

The teen's death was reported Tuesday. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health initially said the cause was COVID-19, but later walked the comment back, saying further analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was needed to confirm the cause of death.

"Though early tests indicated a positive result for COVID-19, the case is complex and there may be an alternate explanation for this fatality," the statement said. "Patient privacy prevents our offering further details at this time."

  The Hill
Whatever. That is not the problem here. The problem is that someone died because he didn't have insurance.
The Kaiser Family Foundation recently released a study predicting the average cost of coronavirus treatment for someone with insurance and without health complications would total around $9,763, and treatment for someone with complications could top $20,000. The amount someone with insurance would pay out-of-pocket varies depending on their plan, but the study estimates it could exceed $1,300.

A bill signed by President Trump last week offers free diagnostics testing for coronavirus, and on Friday he signed a third coronavirus relief bill that gives stimulus checks to Americans to help those who are out of work or have medical costs associated with the pandemic.
Twelve hundred dollars is not going to cover those costs.

Medicare for all.

UPDATE:


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