My $2,374 cut-thumb emergency room bill

A few weeks back, I wrote about the surprisingly speedy service I received at John Muir Medical Center's emergency room. This was on a Sunday evening after I went in for a thumb I sliced with a potato peeler. The bleeding wouldn't stop after several hours, so I figured I had to go to the emergency room to have a doctor look at it. 

I feared that a cut thumb would be very low on the emergency department's priority list, and that I'd end up sitting in the waiting room for hours.  Instead, I was seen right away. My wound was cleaned out, I received a bandage, and I was out of the hospital in an hour. I've since learned that John Muir, yes, has instituted a new system for managing the flow of its patients in its emergency room. It identifies easy to treat patients, like I was that night, and gets them into an exam room as quickly as possible, to be seen, treated, and discharged. This system helps keeps the emergency room from backing up and lets the staff focus on more serious cases.

The bill came, and I was curious, to say the least, that the total bill is for $2,374. For an hour's service. Wow!

I'm not freaking out about it because my private health insurance covers all of that amount, except for the $100 co-pay that I paid at the time of treatment. My initial thought upon receive this bill: My health insurance damn well better cover this ER visit.

That's because for the past year or so, my family and I have been picking up a huge share of my employer-provided Health Net medical coverage--to the tune of $1,400 a month. We chose this somewhat more costly Health Net route because we wanted to maintain continuity of coverage for my husband who has a chronic health condition.

With these kinds of ER costs, I can imagine the person who would be reluctant to go in for something like a cut thumb--or even something more serioius--if they had to pay much higher out-of-pocket costs.
Of course, the health care reform bill was just signed last month. I know I should be more of a health care policy wonk. If I were, I might understand how the health care overhaul might reduce this kind of cost for an emergency room visit--to my insurance company or to me.

According to HealthReform.gov, the health care reform is supposed to make health care "affordable and accessible for everyone." The argument is that by expanding health insurance to all Americans, "and creating caps on the health care expenses that people pay out of pocket, health insurance reform will make health care affordable to everyone.  ... Premiums are high, in part, because of the 'hidden insurance tax' of more than $1,000 for unpaid costs of care of the uninsured."

If any health care policy wonks--pro and con--want to chime in. If you have suggestions of anyone to bug, who might be able to tell me whether health care reform will reduced the costs of a cut-thumb visit, please let me know.

U.S. Reps Miller and Garamendi invite you to learn the truth about health care reform at Thursday

"Learn the honest truth and facts about health care reform."

So says an invitation to a forum Thursday with US Representatives George Miller and John Garamend that is hosted by a coalition of labor and community groups from Contra Costa County and nearby areas.

The forum takes place 5 p.m. Thursday at IBEW 302, 1875 Arnold Way, Martinez.

The two East Bay congressman will be talking about the health care reconciliation bill that President Obama just signed. Thursday's forum is sponsored by the Contra Costa Building & Construction Trades Council, Contra Costa Central Labor Council, Napa Solano Building and Construction Trades Council, Napa Solano Central Labor Council, Contra Costa County Democratic Central Committee, League of United Latin American Citizens (LuLAc), NAACP East County Branch, and the NAACP Richmond Branch.

For more information, contact the Mt. Diablo Peace & Justice Center, (925) 933-7850 http://www.mtdpc.org/.

What will the Tea Party'ers do now that the health care reform bill has passed?

"I don't know what will happen if the bill passes," said Heather G., an East Bay member of the Tea Party Patriots, who was protesting outside U.S. Rep. John Garamendi's Thusday. "It's going to get really, really ugly."

Garamendi, the Democrat who represents the 10th congressional district, was a strong supporter of the legislation and one of 219 casting a yes vote.

Heather G. is an Alamo mother and realtor who said that she became politicized following the election of President Barack Obama. Concerned about the direction the country is going in, she has helped organize other protests over the past several months.

She said her group has held peaceful demonstrations and does not advocate violence.

But things got pretty angry and ugly over the weekend among other Tea Party protesters demonstrating outside the Capitol building Saturday and Sunday.

A Newsweek blogger described it as the gathering as the "prototypical angry mob," with some people in the mostly white group shouting the N-word at African-American Reps. John Lewis and Andre Carson, spitting on Rep. Emanuel Lewis, and hurling a homophobic epithet at openly gay Rep. Barney Frank.

Heather G. said that "a lot of people" are fed up and angry and suggested that passage of this bill could make things even more divisive and ugly than they already are. She believes that health care reform--or at least this Senate-passed bill that the House was voting on Sunday--would be disastrous for the economy, and would amount to those in power--the Democrats--hijacking control of our country from the will of the people.

The Democrat-controlled Congress approved the legislation, handing Obama a major victory for his top priority. The legislation, which is designed to extend health care to millions of uninsured Americans and crack down on insurance company abuses, awaits his approval.

Republican Party leaders and Tea Party organizers tried to distance themselves from the slurs Sunday. Still, the Kansas City Star reports, "some Republican House members spurred the protesters on, appearing Sunday on the south balcony of the Capitol with signs spelling out each letter of one of the main Tea Party chants: "Kill the bill. ...

"But as it became clear Democrats had won the votes of key anti-abortion lawmakers, the protesters lost their enthusiasm, and their numbers shrank."

East Bay Tea Party'ers protest Garamendi's support of health care reform bill outside his Walnut Creek office

With a historic health care reform vote expected in the House Sunday, a small East Bay group associated with the Tea Party protested on Thursday afternoon outside the North Broadway office of U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, who represents California's 10th congressional district. It was the second afternoon in a row the group was out in front of the Atrium building on Broadway.  

Garamendi, a Democrat, is a strong supporter of the legislation and is expected to vote yes. Rep Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton), whose office the protesters planned to rally in front of Friday, is said to be leaning yes but wants to analyze the bill before he makes a final decision. Democratic Reps. George Miller, Barbara Lee ,and Pete Stark also say they will vote yes on the heavily debated compromise bill.

"At the end of the day, this debate boils down to two questions," Garamendi says on his website. "Do we stand with the millions of people without coverage and millions more one pink slip away from health care ruin? Or do we stand with the entrenched interests who will do all they can to stop reform to maximize their profits at the expense of patients? I believe every American deserves access to affordable health care coverage, and I will do all I can to make that happen."

But Heather G., an Alamo mom and realtor who has been helping to organize Tea Party protests at various East Bay locations over the past several months, says health care reform would be disastrous for the economy, and amounts to those in power hijacking control of our country from the will of the people. "Our main concerns as Tea Partyers is the amount of spending and what that will do to the country," she said.

Republicans have attacked the $940 billion legislation as a government takeover of the health care industry financed by tax increases and higher Medicare cuts.

But Heather G. said that this particular protest wasn't just about health care reform but about the entire direction the country is headed in. She said a lot of people are fed up and angry.

"I don't know what will happen is the bill passes," she said. "It's going to get really, really ugly."

She emphasized that her group is made of people of both major political parties and that their protests are always peaceful. "We don't advocate violence."

Besides objecting to the direction the country is going in, under President Obama and the Democratic leadership, the protesters also sniffed at the idea that Garamendi doesn't even live in the 10th congressional district that he represents and is barely seen here. 

The Congressional Budget Office released a report Thursday saying that House changes to this legislation will shave $138 billion from the federal deficit over the next decade and save as much $1.2 trillion over the following decade.