North Florida Regional

I just had the inevitable first hand experience with emergency health care....uninsured emergency healthcare, that is. My adult daughter, who has no insurance (one of two daughters in this fix) sprang a leak. She had a perforated ulcer, which resulted in uninsured surgery and a 6 day hospital stay.

I've got to say that the hospital - North Florida Regional in Gainesville, Florida - did a great job. They provided wonderful care. And they provided it knowing there would be no reinbursement from insurance. Bless all of their hearts.

So the taxpayers and insured citizens of Florida, supplemented, perhaps, by the larger group of US citizens, paid to save my daughters' life and they did an excellent job. Thank You, all. This happened right before Thanksgiving; although what we ate was radically adjusted, we had a very Thankful Thanksgiving this year. We (including the recently opened daughter) ate matzo ball soup - nourishing and easy for the insulted stomach to handle. We all loved it.

Of course the stress that launched the perforated ulcer is not relieved by this event....

I heard that Barbara Bush had a perforated ulcer at just the same time as my daughter. I'll bet she has insurance - I doubt that her care could have been much better, though. I can imagine the stress Ms. Bush must feel watching the disaster her son has presided over. I know I feel stress watching my daughters be uninsured...even after watching this recent event unfold, with its high quality care. For the sake of this essay, I'd like to be able to say that if Audrey had been insured, she wouldn't have had the level of stress that produced the ulcer....but Barbara defeats that argument by having the same condition and plenty of resources.

Even so, it's a lousy way to run a country. And a single payer system would result in a better money flow for the providers. If every provider knew that every patient was going to have a predictable, reliable amount of insurance for their care, the system could settle down and focus on just providing care - and save billions in paperwork and administrative costs. Think of the staff it takes to bill different codes for different reimbursement amounts to different payers and try to pursue those who cannot pay because who could pay the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a life saving procedure can cost to provide?

And think of how it would feel to live among people who all knew that they could address their health needs as they arose - who could all take the medication their providers prescribe (which is to say who all could afford the medications their providers prescribe).

I think we could reduce depression, anxiety disorders and stress related illnesses by 10-15% by having a single payer system. Add up the savings from that, add it to the savings from reducing administrative costs and voila, you've got enough money to do the thing right! Probably - almost certainly - cheaper than now! And as an added bonus, providers no longer have to generate money to pay stockholders who have bet on healthcare and healthcare insurance as a for profit industry. Those stockholders will all have to go invest their money in renewable energy instead.

I'm telling you...single payer is the way to go. Each provider remains a privately run business - it just knows what its product is worth and can run its business accordingly.

And meanwhile, as we wait for this future healthcare paradise, I'm very grateful for the excellent care provided to my uninsured daughter when she needed it. Thanks, North Florida Regional! You guys are the best!