Emergency Room Healthcare

I missed 60 minutes last night. In the last week or two I have started to avoid the  news. I can't watch anymore. Reading is enough, and in many ways that goes for Obama too. However, I see that that the Mittster thinks emergency room is medical care for the poor, a more ill-informed statement I cannot imagine. He cited the case of a person that had a heart attack and noted how an ambulance will pick up and take you to the hospital for care.

Plavix Oral is a medicine commonly prescribed for people with Heart conditions. A simple google search shows the cost of this medicine for about one month at about $75. Recently my son had to visit an emergency room for a few stitches. It was such a minor incident he did not even see a doctor. He was in an out in about an hour. The bill was $800. Assuming a heart attack victim could get in and out for $800, which is unlikely since he or she for sure needs to see a doctor, the mythical emergency room visit that Romney referred to would have-- if avoided-- paid for a year’s supply of Plavix. I do not think Romney is a stupid man, but the ideology to which he now tacks endlessly has made him stupid. It just can't be argued at this point that he is monstrously ill-informed on some subjects.

This statement is ideology masquerading as policy. Emergency  rooms, visited long after ill cared for symptoms have escalated to an emergency, are the MOST costly health care possible. Moreover, emergency rooms do not dispense preventive care for chronic patients so the likelihood of a repeat visit is high. This takes an inhumane toll on the patient, his family, and of course means repeat visits from which point the costs escalate.

Would Mr Romney also suggest the emergency room as the proper venue for cancer treatment or rehabilitation after a stroke?

Even a conservative should be trying to reduce emergency room visits. I expect the right to miss the moral issue of letting people suffer endlessly when cost is the only impediment to good health, but from a fiscal standpoint it is just stupid. How did he miss that? Team Obama can be slippery on what their plans are for second term, but Team Romney might be the dumbest that ever ran. This is certainly the most mean spirited campaign in my lifetime. The candidate himself may not be the mean little shit that Nixon was, but the principles on which he stands are the most heartless and dumb in recent memory.